The Firewood Angel

This is a true story. 

It was two weeks before Christmas. As the young wife brought in firewood to light the fire, she thought, “There isn’t enough wood for the rest of the winter. How will I keep my four children warm?”

The man they’d gotten wood from for many seasons had sold his business. It was already a cold winter, and the rest of the firewood wouldn’t last.

Her husband had been in a car accident a few days ago. He wasn’t hurt badly, but now he couldn’t do any cutting or splitting of big wood from the forests. What could she do?

She was a resourceful woman. While she laid and lit the fire, an idea came to her: put out their need on the local email bulletin board. Surely someone in this forested area had extra wood, even though it was very late in the season.

So she sat down at her computer and wrote, “Wanted: firewood.”

Later that day, she received a query from a woodswoman, “Are you looking for free firewood or to pay? We have some dry firewood to sell.”

The woman replied, “Thank you, but I am in need of free fire wood. I have four children to feed and we have only my husbands income. Power bill is expensive during the winter. Trying to balance it out with keeping a fire.”

The woodswoman responded, “I’ll tell you what. I have a big pile of pine branches I can give you for free. They’re well seasoned, but they’ve been out in the rain. You’d need to dry them indoors before you burn them. Would that help you?”

Here was an answer! The wood was already cut into firewood lengths. They could lay them out on the hearth to dry out before burning them. It was firewood, and it would keep them warm. Eagerly, she wrote, “Thank you! Everything helps! When would be a good time to pick it up?”

Several days later, the woman and her husband, who was feeling much better, came with their two youngest children to collect the wood. They drove through a beautiful forest to the motorhome where the woodswoman and her partner lived. She bounded out of the door, and greeted all of them warmly. Then she pointed to a pile of wood to take.

While the couple loaded this wood, the children played outdoors, climbing up on wood rounds and singing with delight. Soon the van was nearly half full. The woodsman led them to another firewood pile, where they filled the van up to the very top.

Seeing that the couple wouldn’t have room for more firewood, the woodswoman brought them to a place with several big piles of already-cut firewood. She said, “You have our gate padlock combination. Come back whenever you want to take this wood. Let’s be in touch next spring. We have more wood that we cut last summer that will season next summer. We will give some of it to you for next winter.”

The couple were very grateful. This would give them all the firewood they needed for this winter, and even the possibility of more free firewood for the following winter! Their eyes shone as they thanked the woman. “What a wonderful gift! You are our firewood angel.”