Twenty of us gathered around. Some of the folks I knew better than others; some I had never met before. Yet, we all pulled up a chair as we tucked our blankets in tightly around our knees. The warmth of the campfire drew the campers in close. We pushed our puffy-stiff marshmallows onto the ends of makeshift clothes hanger poles and dangled our sweets nearer to the flame. Marshmallows lightly browned and softened, they now provided the perfect sticky warmth necessary to frost the chocolate sandwiched in-between two graham cracker squares.

Scrumptious s’mores weren’t the only thing the fire helped create. On the faces reflecting the fire’s glow I could see the expression of the external mixing with the internal. Outwardly, we felt the warmth. Inwardly, we felt anticipation, joy, and satisfaction.

But I also saw the eternal. God takes care of our physical needs as well as our emotional and spiritual needs. Even in the s’mores themselves I saw God as the refiner, definer, and creator. Let me explain…

I was holding my thoughts and actions over the fire. I stuffed my puffy-stiff self onto the end of a prayer and lifted myself to God. He gently made me a new person, capable of being molded and reshaped according to His design. Although Satan tries to keep me stiff and unchanged, God grabs hold of me and binds me in…front and back, like the graham cracker. But before He fastens me in His protection, He gives me something sweeter than Hershey’s chocolate. God gives me the deposit of the Holy Spirit to rest upon, depend up, and pray for courage and discernment.

After I put this God-given s’more into my soul, I cannot help but be changed. I am made anew: a stronger servant who continues to be humbly in awe of God. I feel anticipation, joy, and satisfaction.

The warmth of His spirit-fire drew the seekers in close. I pulled up a chair, ready to take in a God-given s’more.