Kindle My Heart

kin·dle (kndl)

1.a. To build or fuel (a fire).

   b. To set fire to; ignite.

2. To cause to glow; light up: 

3. To arouse (an emotion, for example) 

v.intr.

1. To catch fire; burst into flame.

2. To become bright; glow.

3. To become inflamed.

4. To be stirred up; rise.

There's just something about Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess that gets me every time. It could be the infectious imagination that it's main character has and shares with everyone she meets. It could be noncircumstancial hope that she will again see her father, even though he's gone off to fight in a horrible and dangerous war. But, mostly, I think it's the way that she treasures him, even when he's away. In the 1995 film version, my favorite scene shows Sara sitting on his lap, sniffing his lapel and tracing his clothing with her fingertips. When he asks her what she's doing, she says that she's learning him by heart. 

That resounds with me. 

Like Sara, I too hope to sit with my true Father, to know him and learn him by heart. My prayer is the same as the one below: To know that He is the one who kindles my heart. Real love cannot be awakened within me if He himself does not awaken it.

As the moon kindles the night 

As the wind kindles the fire 

As the rain fills every ocean 

And the Sun the Earth 

So your heart will kindle my heart 

Take my heart 

Take my heart 

Kindle it with your heart 

And my heart cannot be 

Kindled without you 

Your heart will kindle my heart