Be the spark

I am wood wanting to be fire. But my flames are nowhere to be seen.

I have learned from the best. I've learned to keep wood dry and which trees produce the best wood for fire.

Yet still no fire.

To become fire, I learn that wood needs oxygen. I find people to give me that oxygen—that space to breathe. Some offered oxygen, then took it away. Others gave me room to breathe.

Yet still no fire.

To become fire, I learn I need a spark. But from where? Could someone else's spark help me build a fire? But this fire gets out of control, leaving me burned out and depleted, with no wood left to burn.

I am now enraged. Why can't I become fire? I deserve to be fire! Why won't someone make me fire?

In sheer frustration, both depleted and angry, I make a final call. I chose to light the fire. I chose to become the spark.

I become fire.

Spark is courage. Spark is not waiting for someone else's permission but claiming a space that all along you've been told is not yours. Spark is choosing to believe the space is yours. Spark is stepping in and making it your own, even when every fibre of your being cries you don't belong. Spark is choosing to believe in you.

Without a spark, there is no fire.

Be the spark.