MT Stories: Go to Church, Clean Out Unwanted Ash From Your Soul

Like ashes in your pellet stove, your soul needs a weekly cleaning, too.  Another good idea is to change out of your white shirt and tie before you clean that stove!

Its December 28th and there's hardly any snow on the ground here in Helena.  For some that's a blessing but being from Sacramento, I rather enjoy dealing with it.  I'm a bit disappointed in Montana's winter weather this year, its showing is a bit dismal.  

Speaking of cold however, I woke up this morning to a very chilly house.  (I'm annoyed that there's not enough snow on the ground yet I'm complaining of a chilly house, go figure.)  There's no central air in this house that we're living in for the time being, so the main heat source comes from a big pellet stove that gobbles down wood pellets.  We were told to fill the stove's pellet hopper every morning to keep the house warm and prevent it from extinguishing and requiring it to be lit again, which I was told was a somewhat difficult task.

As you might have already guessed, the stove's flame went out during the night, making for a very cold morning. While the stove is a beast when it comes to wood pellets, I've never let the hopper go empty.  Checking that first, it was filled almost to the brim.  I turned on the stove and the auger shot out some pellets.  Looking in through the glass, I saw a huge pile of pellets that had stacked up in the burn pot liner.  I opened up the door and saw not only unburnt wood pellets but tons of ash.  As I have concluded, while there were plenty of pellets to burn, the ash had suffocated the air flow needed for it to burn continually.

        

And getting the stove running?  Gee, you could say it was difficult.  It took me about an hour to get that thing aflame.  The trick is to get only a handful of pellets lit and then add more as they're burning.  Regardless though, it needed to be cleaned.  There was no way for it to produce warmth again before that happened.  I could have continued feeding it pellets but I first needed to deal with the issue of why it went out in the first place. 

A pellet stove needs to be cleaned out at least once a week, if not more.  Our souls, like this stove, need this same care.  As we live, we build up ash in our stove because this life is not without opposition or temptation.  We don't always do the right thing.  We might compromise on what we believe or make a stupid mistake.  It happens and our Heavenly Father understands that.  He's not content with it though and He wants us to change; its no wonder that one of the ten primal commandments is to "remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Ex. 20:8).  

This is a day where we are to devote our whole time to serving and worshiping the Lord.  We do so by removing ourselves from our normal day-to-day activities and have Christ be the center of that day.  This day should be completely different then the rest.  It is a day to rest from our labors and empty the ash from our soul that we have collected over the course of the week. We do this by attending church, partaking of the Sacrament (the bread and water), and serving those in need.

The Sacrament is necessary to have as it cleans our spiritual burn pot from ash and fills us with the Spirit.

"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." (John 6:53)

Like the pellet stove, if you hold onto that ash you will never be able to produce the needed warmth.  That ash will not let you grow your flame bright and it will be as if there is "no life in you".

Clean out your ash by attending church and partaking of the bread and the water.  Just as I had to use only a handful of pellets to start the flame again, start small.  Go to church and then progress onto to making other needed changes from there.  Watch your flame ignite as your ability to live vibrantly is restored and life becomes beautiful and warm!

"Let your light so shine ... " (Matt 5:16)