Adapted from an email
A member of a certain 12-Step group, who previously had been attending meetings regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, his sponsor decided to visit him.
It was a chilly evening. The sponsor found the sponsee at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Knowing the reason for his sponsor’s visit, the man nonetheless welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.
The sponsor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the sponsor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone then he sat back in his chair, still silent.
The sponsee watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and inactive.
Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The sponsor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
As the sponsor reached the door to leave, his sponsee said, with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for your fiery testimony. I will be back in group next week.”
We live in a world today, which tries to say too little with too much. Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the best lessons are the quiet ones.