A bonfire was built
one ordinary day.
Random scraps of wood
were tossed onto the blaze.
It didn’t go unnoticed –
the nails sticking out.
But the fun of the blaze
pushed aside any doubt.
The flames got higher!
Reaching up towards the sky!
Heaps of brush were piled on …
soaking wet; not dry.
The blaze was alive!
The heat scorching hot!
The huge piles of brush
disappeared on the spot!
Time ran its course.
In the place of brush mounds,
a smoldering heap
of hot ashes was found.
The fun of the moment
had driven out the thought
that random nails
now lay here on the spot.
Here in the path
where vehicles drive.
Here in the comings
and goings of life.
Nails in the ashes …
now scattered here and there.
Just waiting to puncture
a tire and leak air.
Nails in the ashes
from a good time of fun.
Nails left behind
which can puncture and ruin.
How many people
do the same in their life?
The fun of the moment
pushes caution aside.
Sure, there are nails …
but who really cares?
It’s no big deal
if life’s path drives through there.
The blaze is exciting!
What good times of fun!
Who cares about nails
which can puncture and ruin.
Time runs its course.
Soon, all that is found
– from the good times of fun –
just smoldering ash mounds.
Smoldering ashes …
raked here and there …
scattered with nails
which can pierce … and leak air.
Nails in the ashes
right where life comes and goes,
causing terrible trouble
far down the road.
Ashes in life …
filled with sharp nails:
regrets and heartaches …
too many to tell.
Ashes in life …
which can’t be undone:
far-reaching consequences
from “good times of fun.”
Ashes in life
filled with nails unseen.
Can these ashes of my life
really be redeemed??
Yes! There is hope!
Look to the cross.
It was there that nails
brought hope to the lost.
Nails in the ashes –
Jesus crucified:
to take away sin,
and give new life.
Nails in the ashes –
Christ on the cross:
to bring redemption
for all who are lost.
Nails in the ashes –
Jesus’s death:
to make all things new,
and give hope and new breath.
Give your ashes to Jesus.
Give your heartache and pain.
His nails on the cross
will erase all your shame.
From the nails in the ashes
Jesus calls to you.
How will you answer?
What will you do?
By: Amy Hayes
March 2022
