March 22: Luke 24:32 - The Heart That Holds the Flame (Today's Reflection from My Utmost For His Highest)
"Did not our heart burn within us ...?"
There are moments when Christ draws near and something in us ignites — a sudden warmth, an awareness, a holy fire that makes everything feel sharp and alive. The disciples on the Emmaus road knew that feeling: “Did not our heart burn within us…?” It is the unmistakable touch of God, the kindling only the Spirit can do.
It is the keeping.
It is the ordinary day — the dishes, the errands, the quiet responsibilities, the familiar faces — that tries to smother the flame. And unless we learn to abide in Jesus, the fire flickers out under the weight of the commonplace.
Much of our inner distress does not come from sin, but from not understanding our own nature. Emotions are powerful forces, and they must be examined by their end. If an emotion, followed to its conclusion, leads us away from God, we must extinguish it quickly. But if the Spirit Himself has kindled it, and we refuse to let it rise to its proper height, it collapses into something smaller, more distorted, more self‑focused than God intended.
This is how overly emotional, unstable spiritual lives are formed — not because the emotion was wrong, but because it was never allowed to reach its rightful purpose.
When God gives you a vision, a stirring, a holy fire, make decisions while the flame is bright. Let them be irrevocable. Let the consequences unfold as they must. We cannot stay on the mount of transfiguration, basking in the light, but we can obey the light we received there.
It is a way of walking —
a steady flame carried through hours of gloom,
because it was first willed in hours of insight.
Guard me from emotions that lead me astray, and strengthen every holy stirring You ignite within me.
Keep my heart burning with steady devotion.
In Jesus name, Amen.
Exhale: Keep me devoted
~ Quil
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