What is a Fire by Night?

The question came up:

"Why this blog? And what is a fire by night?"

I wanted a place to write about the spiritual side of creativity, or the creative side of spirituality (depending how you look at it!).

I love the metaphor of fire that appears in the deepest darkness. In the Old Testament stories, when the Israelites wandered looking for a home, God appeared to them as a cloud by day - something ethereal and swirling. But in the darkness of the night, he showed up as a pillar of fire, bright and unmistakeable.

In your darkest night, there is a blaze within you.* Even if you've never connected with it before. When wild, free, loving creativity shows up, that too is a pillar of fire.





You can't deny it. You can't explain it. Other folks might say, "That's not God. 'He' or 'she' is supposed to look like this--" (Fill in the blank.)

Yet you know this blaze.



And you follow. Onward into the fire!



*Call it your portal to God. The Divine Presence. Or the Holy Spirit. I'm giving you lots of choices. Notice how you may react differently to different language? This is a cultural thing. Words can either attract or repel you, depending on what language you're used to, and this is the challenge for the spiritual writer who doesn't want to put people off by using the wrong words. More about this here.



Image credits: stockfreeimages.com