Who Is Ready for Fall ~ Fireside | Kyle McMurray Coaching, LLC

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A warm yellow glow against my wife’s face, and watching her snuggle into a blanket with a warm drink in her hand… that makes me smile inside and out. You’re listening to Living the Freedom Life Podcast. Today, we are wrapping up our series “Who Is Ready for Fall?” with Episode 65 and we are talking about being Fireside today.

I’m not sure about you, but I’ve spent hours staring into the lapping flames of a fire. It doesn’t matter if it’s in our living room with a fireplace, an outside evening on the patio with the fire pit, or in the middle of a pasture with a twenty-foot bonfire. I think that during Fall and sitting fireside has a lot to teach us about Living the Freedom Life today.

There’s something about being fireside that soothes the soul and mesmerizes us into deep thought.

That may be a scary place for some, but God challenges us to go there because He wants to change that, and more importantly, He wants to heal that.

But it starts with an exercise of Stillness. And if I may be so bold, most people don’t have any idea of what that means outside of an intentional vacation. Stillness is something that is smothered with the busyness of life.

We need something to lure us away from all of our responsibility…and all of the work required for Fall that we talked about a few episodes ago, when we talked about Harvesting.

In Phil 4:8 The Bible says for us to meditate on “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things”.

Let me ask you, HOW can we expect to meditate on these things when we don’t have time? When we don’t take the time, when we don’t fight for the time, or , to use a biblical term, how do we take dominion over our own time? And yes, if you’ve ever tried to do this, you know that it’s a fight to find time.

Let’s take some time to point out some benefits of sitting fireside. Let’s look at some ways to invite opportunities to “meditate on these things” as we find in Phillipians.

Sitting in front of a fire watching the flames dance and glow, hearing the little pockets of moisture in the wood burst, while they crack and pop while heat turns them into steam; that lures us into Peacefulness.

It seems as though God is providing a distraction and helps us say goodbye to the weight and the stresses of the day.

Another thing about being fireside is Curling up with a blanket. Or, if you’re like me, I like to sit pretty close to the fire. I know this may seem strange to you, but I like the feel the contrast of heat on one side of my body. We each have our own little ways, but being fireside offers a deeper invitation by providing Comfort.

Maybe not too often with an inside fire, but many times outside I’ve sacrificed many coathangers and transformed them into the perfect pitchfork for Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and just about anything else that flimsy wire would support over the fire. You may even do what my wife likes to do and curl up with a hot cup of her favorite tea. You see, there are a lot of Treats that can be found while sitting fireside and getting still. By meditating on the things as instructed in Phil 4, I guarantee that you will find things much more valuable than the treats I’ve mentioned.

One last thing I want to point out about sitting fireside before we go, Open Up during the meditation time.

You see, I also like to read while sitting near a fire. Reading a good book, gaining some new insight, discovering something new and sit to ponder, or meditate on it. That gives “new air” to breathe. What I mean by that is that you open yourself up to receive New vision, you have processing time on the things that affect your soul.

Remember, God wants to heal you, even if you are in the way of that happening.

Don’t be in the way.