The Fire and Moon

The fire crackled in the fire pit there in the back yard. The field was just behind me, and the wider back field lay just beyond the tree line. Staring into the fire my mind drifted away to the lady. Love for her swelled up in me as memories flooded through my mind.

It has been a long time since my last story was posted a little over three months ago. I have been considering how to write this story for a long time. I hope it is worth the wait for my readers.

The memories of love continued to flow as the fire crackled. The moon was rising slowly up through the trees leaving a slight glow breaking through the woods. I remembered the first time I met her. 

She walked into the church and smiled at me. In that moment, I noticed her spirit was aglow. Her outer beauty was stunning, but there was so much more to her. We walked over to a round table and sat as we talked face to face for the first time. We sat together in church that day which brought me to another memory. It was the memory of my prayer a couple of weeks earlier. It was simple. 

“Lord, if you want me to meet someone, please just send her to sit by me in church one Sunday.” 

And so, that Sunday came and went with an answer to prayer and a beautiful lady introduced into my life. 

Two weeks later in the late afternoon of a fall day the lady and I were driving up the mountain together when we realized there was a chapel just a few miles away. It overlooked the fall foliage which covered the valleys below. We had discovered that both of us loved fall and the colors of leaves on the trees. This would be the perfect place to enjoy what we both loved. Indeed, it was. We sat in the chapel with quiet reverence for the beauty we were seeing and worshipped the Creator. 

Our journey began to take shape as we developed a deep friendship that was based on the One who introduced us and laid the journey before us as an opportunity. It was an answer to our individual prayers and only through the grace of God. He had heard our prayers when we did not know each other existed, and then He took the time in His love for us to bring our paths together. Now, the journey stretched out before us.

The unexplainable moments in that mountain chapel birthed an unexplainable chain of events as we grappled with a fast-moving journey that neither of us expected. The journey was changing our lives, and there was a realization that it would bring on many more changes. Fear crept in with the changes, and we had many opportunities to walk away – but every time one of us tried, the other showed grace for our trial and we carried on together. 

It was prayer that bound us together. From the first days of our time together we shared prayer requests with each other. She would ask me, “How can I pray for you today?’’ I began to write out a prayer in the wee morning hours and send it to her. In a short time, we began to pray the same prayer together. Every morning, we found time to pray – not just our own thoughts, but the same prayer separately in different places, but together in our spirit we agreed.  

A closeness began to grow more and more every day. There was love, harmony, and understanding. There was also fear, uncertainty, and the past. Still the journey lay ahead with God leading the way, so we followed on. 

One evening we sat together quietly like we did in the chapel with whispers between us. A new level of trust had come from the hundreds of conversations between us. The journey had brought us to a new place. We finished dinner that night and talked of what we might do next, but ideas were few. Then I began to see that the time had come. It was the time, I had sensed would arrive soon, but not knowing when, I had just prepared for it and waited. I prayed and asked, “Is this the time Lord?” As always, a verbal answer was not heard, but little things began to fall in place. Mostly, peace was settling over me. 

We drove to the only spot I had in mind. As we pulled into the empty parking lot a light rain began. I thought it was a sign that I should abandon the idea, but then I saw the courtyard with the strings of warm glowing lights. I took her hand as I opened the truck door, and we walked under the covered walkway out of the rain. I spun her around and took her in my arms to dance slowly. She said, “There is no music.” I whispered, “Listen closer.” Then she heard it. Music that comes only from deep in the heart was playing between us. 

As soon as we sat on the bench there on the edge of the courtyard, there was no doubt in my mind. This was the time. This was the place. The journey had come back to where it started. From our seat on the bench beside the courtyard, we were looking in the window at the round table where we first met, in church. So, the church courtyard is the place where I dropped to one knee to ask the question. It was Saturday night February 10, 2024 at 10:10 PM when Tammie said, “Yes”. 

There by the crackling fire under the arching moonlight, the memories brought a smile to my face. We are still on the journey that will come back to the same table, in the same church, and in the same courtyard where the engagement will flow into the wedding because God answered the prayers of two people with His own love.