OnFire Encouragement Letter

Hi Folks:

It turns out that turtles are popular creatures. Last week was the busiest ever on the OnFire website (www.onfireletter.com). The local weekly, The Coastguard, put up some video of the turle on its website. This is the link: http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-116859-Snapping-turtle-laying-eggs.html

The countdown is on until I go on vacation. After church on Sunday we're going to take off to PEI for two weeks. There won't be an OnFire for a few weeks while we're away.

As in other years, we'll visit with my family. For something different this year we will do a little camping . We always park our tent trailer at Mom's cottage and this gives us our own space, but since my mother offered to take the boys for a couple of nights, we thought we'd actually take the trailer to a park during that time. We've made reservations at Vacationland in Brackley Beach and look forward to the time on our own to reconnect.

I'm in kind of a reflective mood as I prepare for vacation time. This has been my fullest year ever, for a lot of reasons, and so I'm looking for some rest and also a chance to set our course over the next several years. I don't like feeling so scattered and so I'm praying about what involvements I will have. I've already given up a few commitments, which were really hard to give up because I liked doing them and I hate to let people down. For instance, tomorrow I have my last Bible study with the seniors at our local nursing home. I wish I could do it all, but I can't. I've discovered some limits. The good news is - they were further than I thought they were. The bad news is - it takes a lot of energy to keep it all going and I can't sustain it. God has been gracious, but it is best not to push it.

It is good to take time regularly to refocus. I make a point of doing this a few times a year through prayer retreats and sometimes also through fasting. I find clarity in this and I am re-energized because I don't feel pulled in so many directions. Lately, however, I've been feeling a bigger need for this.

I recently wrote in my journal some of the hopes I have. As I wrapped it up, this is what I said:

"I'd like to think that the first 40 years of my life have been like a funnel - All of my experiences, learning, relationships, talents, gifts, faith, character, all swirling together at the mouth, blending into a mixture that pours out the bottom into a concentrated and focussed stream for the next years of my life."

Have you ever felt like you were on the edge of something really important? That's what I'm feeling. It comes from somewhere deep down. I think about the turtle we saw last week. When the time came, everything within her very being cried out to get ready, and so she found a place to dig that hole and lay her eggs. Something deep within me is ringing, "Get ready."

For what? I wish I knew. But that's the feeling as I prepare to go on vacation. I want to be ready for whatever comes next from God - for me, my family, my church, Shelburne.

I debated whether to put this down this week. I can't tell if there is a lesson in this or not. If there was something, however, that I would encourage - to take some time this summer to reflect on the past year while looking ahead to the next. What is God telling each one of us to be ready for?

Blessings for your upcoming weeks.

Get ready. Be on fire.

Troy

ON FIRE is a weekly letter of encouragement by Troy Dennis. To be added to or removed from the ON FIRE list contact him at onfire@eastlink.ca . This letter published July 3, 2007.