Some of you know that I love studying the Ancient Hebrew Word Pictures.  This is also known as the paleo-Hebrew and is believed by some to be the foundation for all language on earth.  For sure the modern Hebrew, Greek and English come from it!  Very fascinating stuff.

Essentially, for those not familiar with it, the paleo-Hebrew is the original Hebrew language that was important not only for the letter but for the picture that the letter appeared as.  For example, the word for religion is dat and is made up for two letters–dalet and tav.  Dalet means “a door” and tav (which has been changed but originally looked like a cross) means “of the sign”.  For the reader of the paleo-Hebrew “religion” is “the door of the sign of the cross”.  John 10:9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through ME, he shall be saved . . . ”

So what does this have to do with fire and why am I writing about it?  There are two types of fire a-sham and a-shar.  Asham is the fire of chaos and means shame, blame and guilt.  Ashar is the fire of the prince and menas bless, lead straight, and happiness.  What I’m about to quote is from Dr. Seekins and specifically taken from his work “Men, Woman and Fire: The Dynamics of Divinely Created Relationships” and applies to both marriage and parenting.

Regarding the fire of chaos:

“It never works. Anytime that someone tries to use shame, blame or guilt to ‘purify’ (fix) me is does not bring out the best in my character. Instead I have to struggle to not react back. Why is it that what never works with me I keep trying to use with others?”

Regarding the fire of the prince:

“I’ll follow them anywhere!  Has anyone ever truly valued you? A grandparent, a boss? Something unusual happens whenever a leader thinks more of you than of themselves – we gladly follow!  The sheep of a good shepherd hear his/her voice and follow. they don’t have to be forced, they follow with all their heart!”

I’m just going to let that sink in.