Letting Go and the Old Fireplace
Letting Go and the Old Wood Stove
by Susie Teramura
The cream-colored, cast iron, wood stove sat on our hearth for twenty-two years and became the center of our home. It was the place where we would gather to warm, to chat and to share our hearts late into the night.
In the spring, when it wasn’t needed for fires, it became a mantle adorned with stoneware vases of pink and yellow zinnias fresh from our garden. On birthdays, cards and gifts covered the top like an offering. But last year, one cold winter afternoon, it was blazing away when we noticed flames sneaking through a small crack in the pipe. Tongues of orange-red fire licked up the outside of the stove itself.
After the initial shock or more like a freak-out consisting of me jumping up and down shouting “fire,” the realization of what was going on set in, and we were able to quickly put it out. Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to this old friend. It had served us well, but the crack was too hard to fix and not worth the risk. We called the wood stove company and to my utter dismay we found out that they no longer make the stove in the cottage cream color and it could not be replaced.
I am kind of embarrassed to admit that this news was really hard for me. I fussed and griped and obsessively tried to think of ways around having to get rid of this beloved fireplace. I just did not want to accept the truth that it needed to go. I creatively (or maybe irrationally) came up with other solutions, but deep inside I knew this was not something that a little duct tape could fix. And the prospect of having a fireplace we looked at, but couldn’t light wasn’t an option due to our drafty house and exorbitant electric bills.
After a week or two I could tell my obsessive need to solve this problem was getting on everyone’s nerves and so I started wondering what was at the bottom of this for me. Why could I not let go and start looking at other options? After time with God in prayer, I realized that sometimes we must get rid of things we love; things that have kept us safe and warm for a while but just aren’t working for us anymore Letting go of what we have been attached to, whether that be an object, dream, relationship or even way of coping with things is difficult to do even when it’s sure that is needs to be done.
When our eyes are opened, we can see that what once was good and helpful, is now setting fires in places it shouldn’t, and dragging us down with the potential of future destruction. There is grief in the letting go and sadness with the release. But the good news is that our ability to accept the the brokenness means that we are growing. We are expanding and increasing our capacity to hold what is true. Instead of reverting to our familiar flawed ways coping, letting go makes room for our needs to be met more perfectly in Christ. And when we do, we can see that that maybe, the new way will be even more fulfilling than what we once had.
Of course, it’s hard to imagine this because it’s something brand new and has not yet been experienced. This is where our faith gets put into action. In Christ, the best is always ahead. His word says that our limitless, all loving God, is always at work lavishing good gifts on His children, and He is always working on our behalf. God uses even broken things to bring us more of himself which is far richer, and more satisfying than the temporal things our hearts demand.
We did get a new stove, finally, after four months of wrong orders, back orders, miscommunications and delays. It felt like a trial for sure and it’s not my dream cottage cream stove. Instead, It’s a deep cabin brown. It’s different but still beautiful and growing on me. And during this polar freeze with 8 inches of snow and our world incased in ice, I think the brown is cozy and actually, rather nice.
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9
