Don't Stand Outside the Fire

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Jay Izso, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.

One of my favorite songs is by Garth Brooks – “Standing Outside the Fire” The song is really talking about taking a risk on loving another, but the song really applies to something so much deeper than just our interpersonal relationships it really is a commentary on living life in general. Here are some of lyrics:

We call them cool
Those hearts that have no scars to show
The ones that never do let go
And risk it the tables being turned

We call them fools
Who have to dance within the flame
Who chance the sorrow and the shame
That always come with getting burned

We call them strong
Those who can face this world alone
Who seem to get by on their own
Those who will never take the fall

We call them weak
Who are unable to resist
The slightest chance love might exist
And for that forsake it all

They’re so hell bent on giving, walking a wire
Convinced it’s not living if you stand outside the fire
Standing outside the fire
Standing outside the fire
Life is not tried it is merely survived
If you’re standing outside the fire

As I was reading one of my devotionals this morning Chuck Swindoll echoed something similar: " Serendipity occurs when something beautiful breaks into the monotonous and the mundane. A serendipitous life is marked by “surprisability” and spontaneity. When we lose our capacity for either, we settle into life’s ruts. We expect little and we’re seldom disappointed".

So often we don’t risk, because we don’t want to get hurt. So rather than shoot for the stars we shoot for the ground because then we won’t be disappointed. Friends that’s not how we are to live this life.
Friends we need to get in there. Take the risk of getting hurt. Getting burned. It’s okay. I would rather get burned knowing I gave life everything I had, then sit on the sidelines and let life just happen without any hope or expectation.

Our lives are meant to be a wonderous amazing journey filled with adventure. And sometimes adventure hurts, but it also will provide the most fun, challenge, and enjoyment. But you cannot experience the life you were intended to live if you sit and watch it happen…and before you know it…it is gone.

We are meant to experience all of it. The joy and the pain, the laughter and the sorrow.

But there is something more, it is only when we are willing to get into the fire that we can become transformed into something amazing and beautiful.

It takes fire to refine gold.
It takes fire to remove impurities.
It takes fire to warm those around us.

Stop Standing Outside the Fire! Get in there!

You have everything you need to succeed and you will be so surprised at the amazing gift it is to live this life and live it fully.
But you can’t do it, if you are standing outside the fire.
Get in the fire…and be amazed by the blaze of life!