Sparking a Fire

I read this over at Creech. I'm trying to add Creech to my diet. He's been focusing on the writings of Thomas Merton. Here is the latest quote.

How many there must be who have smothered the first sparks of contemplation by piling wood on the fire before it was well lit. The stimulation of interior prayer so excites them that they launch out into ambitious projects for teaching and converting the whole world, when all that God asks of them is to be quiet and keep themselves at peace, attentive to the secret work He is beginning in their souls.

And yet if you try to explain to them that there might be a considerable imperfection in their zeal for activities that God does not desire for them, they will treat you as a heretic. They know you must be wrong because they feel such an intense appetite for the results which they imagine they are going to accomplish.

This struck me. Is this me? It feels like it sometimes. Too often. I don't want to get stuck standing. But let God really get this fire going.