Thursday. It was finally here. It was time to go back to visit Trustee and Biggie. A small group of us were going to go to cook, eat, and enjoy their company, but that is not quite how the afternoon played out. When we got to their homes (they are neighbors) they were outside clearing sticks in the yard. As we all joined to help, we learned that they were clearing the sticks because the plan was to burn the yard to prepare for a party. (We have realized that it very normal to burn land in Swazi.) Then Trustee, while we were all standing around, started to light the dry ground on fire. They then proceeded to hand us branches to swat out the fire when it went too close to the fence.
Casie and I stood with a few young children on a little path up against the fence with our branches. This would be the definition of a culture shock. Our view was Biggie fanning the flames with a baby strapped to her back and many children, around the age of 3, spreading the fire with newspaper. This is not America. But here it was so normal and so good for the land. As my eyes were opened to a new culture, I also learned a lot from the burning yard.
The fire looked scary, devastating, and harmful (and to the ground, at the time, it was). It was going through the burning so that it could revive the ground. The fire removed the weeds and junk in order that the good plants could begin to grow. All of us need a little fire set inside of us to remove all the weeds in our lives. We need to revive our lives by burning away all that is unnecessary and harmful to our foundations.
Another thing I noticed was that the fire was not burning everything in its path. The flames would pass the larger, deeply rooted plants. Those weeds needed to be lit again or maually uprooted and removed. When we let things, good or bad, get rooted in our lives they will withstand the fire. For the bad, this is when we need some manual labor to remove these weeds that are deeply rooted. Then, the chance for planting and growing good plants can come. This is what Jesus has been doing on this African trip. I have been seeing the American, material, and “valuable” things I have let root in my life; things that are not for my good. God has shown me that He wants to help me burn away these things so that His good can take root.
Jesus, please set fire to all that is dry and harmful in my life. Help me get through he burning so that I can get to the planting.
