Burning – A Rite of Spring in the Country

One of the many things I love about living in the country is the spring burning.

You pick a calm evening after several dry spring days and carefully light fire to your brush pile, or your ditch, or your hillside. It burns off all of last year’s dead grass and undergrowth and in a few weeks the blackened ground is covered with fresh green grass.

We had our own burn this week. After spending several days raking up all of the seed pods under the honey locust trees, we had piles to be burned.

The kids love burn night. They each a fire to “tend” and kept busy throwing pods in, or running to get more dead grass when the fire started to go down.

Ours was a very controlled burn – just several nice piles all lit up – but contained.

But every year their are some burns that go out of control – a neighbor who will start the ditch on fire and end up burning several acres. The fire department is called in and the entire neighborhood comes out to watch the excitement.

I can’t help but see the spiritual connection here.

Can’t you just see the spirit of revival sweeping over the countryside like an out-of-control grass fire? Consuming all it meets – burning up the old grass and underbrush, the sins and habits that bind us, leaving behind ground that is ready for new growth.

Psalm 85:6

“Will you not revive us again so your people may rejoice in you?”