Tuesday 22 August 2006

No wood for the fire

Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.” - Proverbs 26v20-21

The famous fire triangle has three sides – fuel, oxygen, and heat. In order to have a fire you must have all of these. Remove one and the fire goes out. Fire fighters put water on a fire to reduce the heat. If you have a fire in the grate and you block off the oxygen the fire will not burn. Another way to put out a fire to cut off the fuel supply. If you stop adding fuel to the fire it will always go out.

The same thing is true when it comes to arguments and fights. If one side will stop adding fuel the fight will stop. The problem is that it is so hard to stop adding fuel. We all want to have the “last word” and as long as “last words” are being adding the fight keeps raging.
What keeps the “fire” going? It is always pride. We must come out “on top” or we feel like we have failed. Our pride tells us that we must “win” the fight. This is a marvellous lesson for us. Lets learn the lesson and strive to be the first one to stop adding the fuel.

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