How Do You Stir Your Faith into Flame???
/“Beloved: I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. . . .
Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.”
I love this image of stirring our faith into flame, of taking something that has turned into a dim flicker and teasing it back into a fire, encouraging that flame to burn again. I know how to do this with a campfire, but how do I do this metaphorically, spirituality? Right now I’m in an okay space spiritually, but sometimes I’m not. When I’m not in a good space, or when I just feel meh about the spiritual life, how do I stir things up again?
For the past few years I’ve been hearing a lot about burnout, not necessarily when it comes to people’s faith but when it comes to their jobs. Burnout is the opposite of stirring into flame, isn’t it? When we’re burned out, there’s no flame left, just cold ashes. Have you heard the term “quiet quitting”? That’s when people don’t officially quit their jobs but instead just do the bare minimum. I do have to wonder – is that really quitting or is that just setting healthy boundaries for a normal amount of work rather than overdoing it? That’s a conversation for another day, but quiet quitting seems to happen when the fire has gone out and there’s not even energy to officially leave or the possibility of finding something better. There’s also such a thing as “quiet firing.” That’s when an employer, rather than letting someone go, just treats them so badly that they eventually leave. That’s super crummy. And maybe it means the fire has gone out for that employer too.
Personally, I’ve never quiet quit a job; I’ve always kind of engaged in my work in a wholehearted way. Maybe that’s because my jobs have mostly been ministry ones or because I’ve had the privilege to find jobs that I enjoyed, or maybe it’s just me. Even when I was a teenager and worked in a bakery, I gave it my all. Of course, being a teenager, I also horsed around and did some goofy stuff, but I enjoyed myself and felt like we were a little community in mission together to share deliciousness with the world. Good times. There have been times, though, when I’ve worked in less healthy environments. When the politics eventually got to me, I had to figure out how to respond. I never quiet quit. I just quit. It turned out to be a good decision because then I moved on to something that really was life-giving. So in a way, I stirred into flame my zeal for mission by leaving what was dead and seeking out new life elsewhere.
Besides work, though, what about spiritual burnout – when someone’s in a bad space spiritually, when everything feels lackluster, and maybe God seems silent or not present in prayer? What about when someone goes to church, or not, and either way they don’t experience God? Do you quiet quit your faith when you’re just not feeling it?
I don’t know, but I’ve been there. Paul assures Timothy that “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” That’s reassuring. I don’t think that spiritual dullness comes from cowardice necessarily, but for me it can come when I’m not exercising self-control. I sometimes slack off in the discipline of prayer, even though I know it’s good for me. Instead of taking time to pray in the evening, I turn on Netflix or watch a bunch of reels before I try and sleep. I know prayer is better, so why do I do this? Or, when I pray in the morning, I might go through the motions, but really my thoughts are already on the tasks of the day, and I’m not really present. So, it helps to remember that God has given me self-control — that’s a clear invitation to use it!
God has also given us love. Of course God has. God is love, and God gives us God’s own self. Paying attention to that love helps me too. When I notice love stirring within me — hello, there’s God. When I feel alone and unloved, God is still there. Love is not an emotion, although it often comes with the feels. Love is a gift from God, and it dwells within each of us, and so I — and you and we — are never without love. Even if we check out for a minute, God just keeps on loving us.
And God has given us power. What does that mean to you? I think the word “power” has kind of a bad rap, maybe because we so often witness the misuse of power. However, power itself is neutral. It can be used for good or for ill. Power that comes from God is always good. Sometimes I can turn to God to be empowered in my faith, to act for the good of someone else, maybe even to empower others. However, maybe because the idea of power makes me feel ambivalent, I don’t turn to the power of God as much as I could. Sometimes I turn to worry before I turn to prayer, but if I did the opposite and entrusted my prayer to God’s power, I would likely worry less. But that’s hard. I “should” and “could” do this, but, especially during times of spiritual smoldering, it feels hard to harness God’s power.
No doubt — the spiritual life can be hard. However, I look to the last line of this passage for encouragement: “Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.” Hm. Yeah, I can do that. I can guard it. When I can’t reignite my own spirit, I can at least try and safeguard my faith, remembering that God has given me self-control, love, and power, and I have help from the Holy Spirit. I can do my best to show up for prayer, to respond in love to God and other people, to trust God’s power, but I need the Spirit. I always need the Spirit. And the Spirit of God always wants to show up for me. The Spirit lives within me.
So maybe there’s no need to worry when our spiritual lives are more smoky than flaming. Maybe that’s just the movement of a life of faith as it waxes and wanes. Even if we aren’t feeling it, and we sort of quiet quit for a minute, God never quiet quits on us — or quiet fire us either. The Holy Spirit will stir things up. It will fuel and fan our fires. I may not even realize it, or I may not even want anything to be stirred up but would rather just live a boring status quo. It doesn’t matter. Stirring into flame is what the Spirit does, so it will always do that, in one ongoing, high-energy, but sometimes gentle, life-long Pentecost party.
So, Beloved, stir into flame the gift of God that you have, or just be patient. God will stir it up soon enough.
For Reflection:
How are you doing right now, spiritually speaking?
Have you ever experienced spiritual burnout or dullness or smoldering? Did anything in particular bring it on?
How do you stir up your spiritual life? What helps you to rekindle your faith?
How has God helped you to move through spiritual burnout? how has God been present during these times?
What do you need from God right now?
You can listen to the reflection here, and you can sign up to receive our weekly newsletter at www.GodSpaceCommunity.com. At God Space, you can come as you are. You belong here.
by Sister Leslie Keener, CDP
Sister Leslie Keener, CDP is the director of God Space, a community-building spirituality ministry in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. She’s a Sister of Divine Providence with a Masters in Ministry and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Retreats from Creighton University. She directs retreats, meets with people for spiritual direction, and serves as the vocation director for her community.
