Inside a Fire Pit

"It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity."**

Inside a Fire Pit  

A Confession of blind selfishness 

I'm sitting in a fire pit. 

I could burn alive.

But for now I'm safe,

No Flames among these ashes.

I've been told not to play with fire,

But the fire isn't lit. 

This pit is comfortable. 

It's safe.  

I can sit in this pit of ashes  

There is no danger, only 

My clothes, 

My image, 

My precious self! 

I aught to fear this pit. 

I've seen it engulf,

Incinerate and destroy.

But in the fire's absence, 

I'm content to stay? 

Why would I sit in a fire pit?  

It is for dead wood and flames,

Not me. I do not want to burn alive. 

I confess I am foolish. 

It seems harmless to stay here,

But the danger is coming. 

If I don't move, 

Surely, I'll go up in flames.

{dm}

**Frederic D. Huntington, Forum magazine, 1890, as sited in Crazy Love by Francis Chan.