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January-March, 2011

Worshipping the God of Safety

by Rev. Susan Lewis

I’m a homeowner. This role brings with it certain expectations. As a Course student, I would call them forgiveness opportunities. Recently, I had an experience which taught me just how helpful Holy Spirit can be when I’m willing to ask for help.

I live in Maine, where it can get pretty cold. So in addition to a furnace, I’ve got a wood stove insert in my fireplace. This gets a lot of use. Earlier this fall, I began to have nagging little thoughts about getting the chimney cleaned. It hasn’t been done since I bought the house four years ago and the conventional ego wisdom says that getting a chimney swept is important maintenance.

I should also mention that I’m in a time of transition and closely watching every dollar I spend. But I reasoned that this would be a judicious use of my money because it would make me feel safe. I could then finally let go of that little voice urging me to be more responsible. (Can you see where this is leading?) I even imagined that I was performing good service to the neighborhood — I didn’t want to be responsible for a chimney fire that spread to the nearby woods and homes!

As I listened to the chimney sweep up on the roof, I was feeling pretty good about tending to this task. But then he came down his ladder and delivered the news that blew the lid off my illusion that safety could be purchased so easily. My stove, it seems, had been installed without a stainless steel liner and this, coupled with some creosote build-up, spelled almost certain trouble, said he. Sweeping my chimney could actually create a fire under these circumstances, said this nice young man. Furthermore, building codes were now calling for this to be done.

His recommendation: absolutely no fires until the liner was installed (at a cost of about $2,500). I managed to keep myself calm but I could feel my own fire beginning to burn inside. So this is what I get from the universe for doing the responsible thing? How on earth was I going to find the money?

Fast forward about three weeks: I had called another chimney sweep for a second opinion but his truck broke down the day before my appointment and he couldn’t come. Then a neighbor/volunteer fireman/sometimes chimney cleaner, who “happened to stop by,” offered to bring his ladders over to take a look. I took him up on it and when he came back later and peered into the chimney, he said he didn’t think it looked very terrible at all. He then called the fire chief in town (an informal expert on chimney codes, he explained) and we learned that while liners in a fairly new chimney like mine were a good idea, they certainly weren’t the building code in our town or most others in Maine.

Now thoroughly confused and vexed, I asked Holy Spirit to please help me look at this situation once and for all… I didn’t want to make this decision on my own or continue to live with the fear that it was causing. As I sat there, I heard Spirit, clear as a bell: “Don’t worship the god of safety.” And I realized that’s exactly what I was doing and had been for years. Spirit took me back to decisions to install a very expensive water filtration system, radon detection system and the latest and greatest of self-cleaning gutters. LOL, I had fallen hard for the god of safety!

He guided me to remember that Love’s Presence is my only real safety. All of a sudden I felt completely peaceful and realized this whole scenario was the perfect lesson for me to transform this pattern of fear-based thinking that I had taken for granted as a normal part of my existence. 

With my fear gone, the answer floated easily into my mind: Call the neighbor back to clean the chimney. Thank you, Spirit, for restoring my sanity once more!

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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