Published January 8, 2002
Few natural events model the principle of multiplication as powerfully as a bushfire.
In a lonely quite bush setting, a (depraved) person lights a match or flicks a lighter and a few blades of dry grass and crunchy leaves begin to glow red.
At first the fire is tiny, insignificant, vulnerable, snaking along slowly, capturing more blades of grass, more leaves, a twig here or there. But with each new piece of fuel, the fire gains in intensity, spreads in different directions, and begins to grab larger targets.
If the conditions are right (or wrong) it may only be a few hours before this tiny spark has graduated to exploding whole trees, and then, whole forests.
If an attempt had been made to put out the fire soon after it started, then a pair of booted feet and a splash of water would probably suffice. Left to grow and multiply, and not even a hundred fire-fighters and massive water dropping helicopters will succeed.
Of course if the grass is green and wet, the air is cool, the wind still then perhaps the initial small fire will spread no more than a few inches before succumbing to a black death.
Our decisions as individuals, communities and nations follow a process not unlike that of the bushfire.
Most of the things that currently dominate our lives, for better or for worse, started as small, almost indiscernible decisions. And so it will be for those issues and events that dominate our lives in the coming year.
At an individual level, the fiercely multiplying tragedy of marriage breakdown begins a long way back with small decisions and attitudes that seemed unimportant at the time. Unchecked, and with the right (wrong) conditions, they escalate and may require massive outside intervention if the marriage is to be saved.
Like Australia in summer, when the land is ripe for fire, our current societal landscape all too often provides a perfect setting for marriage breakdown, along with other problems such as depression, anger, loneliness, stress, isolation, racism and violence.
As individuals, as communities as a nation, the new year offers an opportunity to consider the little sparks taking hold before us that might be snuffed out now before irrevocable damage is caused. We might also need to face the reality of some major fires and choose now to call out for help.
Fortunately, we can also work to create an environment where ill-burning fires do not prosper. For example, in the area of marriage, we can create a green, cool, fresh setting where fire fails to take hold, by doing and saying things that bring life and growth; turning our back on attitudes and opportunities that dry out us and our relationship; surrounding ourselves with people and resources that refresh us.
The same applies to other areas of our lives and the challenges and choices we face.
Sometimes, such as in back-burning or clearing, fire is welcome and in the case of the Australian bush, fire is often the bringer of new life as it causes native seed pods to burst open. Likewise, we can light some positive fires of hope, love and compassion in our world. Even a small spark can become a mighty force of change.
Either way, we need to face the reality that our decisions make a difference, little by little, to our lives and the lives of others.
CS Lewis said, "Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance." And, "Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before."
Faced with these truths, we are tempted to cry, that circumstances overtake us that are beyond our control. How then do we choose what is right? Consider this response from Viktor Frankl: "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts, comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
I have found that God, who chooses to love us unconditionally, will always provide strength to make good, wise, life-giving choices if we ask him. In fact, a relationship with God is the premier context for making the right decisions.
The first step you could take towards a better life in 2002 is to seek Him out.
Happy New Year.