A Little Spark

My younger brother, Caleb, and I had the job of burning the trash. It was a fun job. Sometimes we would find treasures in the trash—things that Mom threw out that we thought we could use. Sometimes we would experiment and see if a brick or dirt would burn. One day as we were burning trash we got a new idea. Nearby there was a giant fir tree—bigger around than our arms. And its bark was covered with pitch. What would happen if we put some fire near it? It didn’t take more than a tiny piece of burning trash to get the pitch flaming. It was exciting! And then we got scared. The flames started going up the bark—soon the whole tree would be on fire! “Get the hose!” I yelled to Caleb. As he ran to haul it from the house, I took my jacket and began beating at the flames. They didn’t go away. At last Caleb got the hose turned on and started spraying the fire. The water could barely reach the tree trunk. We sprayed water up and down until the flames disappeared. At last the fire was out!

We learned an important lesson that day about how dangerous fire can be. A little spark can create a big fire really quickly! The Bible tells us that our tongue and words are just like that (James 3:5). The mean words we say might seem like small things, but they can really hurt those around us. It is important to watch our words and not “play around” with them. Then we can all stay safe and happy.

—shared by Uncle Josh