Hosea 13

Smoke

Smoke out of the chimney. Hosea 13:3.

That is a thing that nobody likes. Many people are fond of smoke out of a pipe, but nobody cares for smoke out of the chimney especially when it is in the wrong place and comes down the chimney instead of going up. Smoke is dirty and disagreeable and harmful. It covers our tables and chairs and cushions with specks of soot, and it makes us cough and choke.

1. I think smoke is one of the lesser worries of life, and so I am going to take it today as a picture of the little frets and bothers and disagreeable things that come our way. These are the things that come to us everyday. We are in a hurry to get to school; we pull off a button or break a bootlace; we have to wait till the button is sewed on or the lace replaced; and so we are late for school. Then the teacher scolds, and we have to stay after hours or write an imposition. Or perhaps our trouble takes another form. A tooth aches, or we cut our finger, or we lose some little thing we value, or a school friend is offended and won't speak to us. There are dozens of these little annoyances that are apt to come to us any day.

The question is, What are we to do about them?

(1) Well, when your chimney smokes, what do you do? You send for the sweep. Of course, you make sure first that your chimney is properly built, because some chimneys have a twist in them, or are too low, or have a loose brick inside, and no amount of sweeping will prevent their smoking. But when you have made sure that your chimney is properly built, the next thing you do is to see that it is kept clean.

Now, that is exactly what we must do with our little troubles and worries. Those that can be prevented or cured it is our business to prevent or cure, and a great many of them can be dealt with in this way. If you rise a few minutes earlier in the morning you will probably not pull off buttons or break laces; and supposing you do, you will have time to put them right. If your tooth aches, visit the dentist. If you lose your possessions, put them away more carefully in future. If one of your friends cuts you, speak to him and find out the reason. It is probably a little misunderstanding which can quite easily be cleared up. At any rate give him the chance of explaining. Friends are far too precious to be lost over a silly thing. If you only take a little trouble about your troubles it is wonderful how many of them disappear.

(2) Learn to consume your own smoke. What does that mean? Well, you know when smoke comes out at the top of a chimney it looks like a black or grey cloud, but when it gets a little bit away it seems to disperse or vanish. Now, it doesn't really disappear altogether. Some of it goes off in gases which mix with the atmosphere; the rest comes down in soot specks or hangs in the air and causes a fog. So in some large towns where there are many tall factory chimneys they have a plan whereby each chimney burns its own smoke.

And so I am going to say to you burn your own smoke; and that just means bear your own little troubles. Don't always be bothering other people with them and asking for sympathy and help. You will make yourself a nuisance, and nobody will want to know you. If things are not just as you would like them, then make the best of them as they are; but don't worry others about every little quarrel you have, and every little bump you give your head, and every little difficulty you meet.

There was once a little girl of four whose mother had met with a bicycle accident and was badly bruised. She asked her mother if she had been hurt, and when mother replied, “Yes, dear, terribly,” Violet said, “ Well, Mommy, when you don't fink of what you don't like, it seems to go away. That's what I find.”

Try that plan instead of complaining. Try not to think of the things you don't like. It is wonderful how many of them will seem to go away.

2. But it is not only things that are a trouble, people can be a nuisance too. There are some boys and girls who are a trouble to everybody. They always seem to be getting into somebody's black books, and they are just like smoke out of the chimney a bother to everybody.

Well, if there are any boys and girls like that here, I want to remind them of the proverb which says that there is no smoke without fire. Smoke is not a good thing in itself, but it is a sign of something good, for when we see smoke we know that somewhere there is a spark of fire; and fire is a good friend, who warms us, and cheers us, and cooks our food.

And there is good in the “smoky” people too. Somewhere underneath that black disagreeable exterior there is a fire burning. The only mistake they are making is that they are burning in the wrong way. For smoke is really wasted fuel, and scientists tell us that if we knew how to burn a fire properly there would be no smoke.

Nothing is really “good for nothing.” You may be constantly getting into scrapes, and people may treat you as if you were no good. But God knows better. He knows that you have the making of something fine in you, and if you will let Him take you in hand, then out of the smoke He can make a beautiful, glowing fire.