candles, hope and flickers of light

candle flame 5 advent light

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How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

William Shakespeare

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Well.

 

 

I am certainly not religious but for some reason I was reminded today of the lighting of the candle upon the advent wreath <a Christian tradition>.

 

candle xmas lit

Whether you are religious or not the message it should send to everyone is a good reminder when fear and darkness in a troubled world sometimes seems to seep into the everyday aspects of Life.

 

 

 

<beware … I am going to mangle the real Christian meaning to craft my own thoughts>

 

 

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The Advent wreath:

Traditionally holds four candles which are lit, one at a time, on each of the four Sundays of the Advent season leading up to Christmas day. Some Advent wreath traditions also include a fifth white “Christ” candle, symbolizing purity that is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas day.

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As we near Christmas … Christmas seems a little farther away than it normally does. Headlines scream of people fighting over limited amounts of ‘stuff’ they don’t really need on a ‘black’ Friday. Supposed leaders scream about taking actions based on salving societal fear while the leaders who do speak of tempered actions while tempering fear get shouted down as soft or not aggressive enough or … at the worst … not caring enough about the fears of the everyday people.

 

 

We, the everyday people, even on our good days these days are unsure. We understand logic but fight emotions. And most of all we are becoming increasingly clear that ‘feeling secure’ needs a new definition because the old one is gone.

 

And that is where the lighting of a candle on the advent wreath seems important.

 

Yeah.

A candle.

 

 

I am talking about a candle when we are worried about our safety and our lives and livelihoods.

 

And maybe I am talking about a small candle because … well … small steps are really important when giant leaps seem impossible and small actions can have a big impact.

 

 

Light, even just a small wavering flickering light, should be a reminder that this light not only shows up in darkness but marks the way forward.

 

 

Light, no matter how small permits us to see the way rather than stumble in darkness.

 

candles path advent

 

The candles within the advent days represent:

 

– Hope.

 

– Faith.

 

– Joy.

 

– Peace <or Love>.

 

– Purity.

 

 

And that is what the light of each candle offers us.

 

 

Hope. A hope that no matter how dark, no matter how chaotic or no matter how much fear … there is a path out of it all. There remains a way lit for us to follow and its name is Hope.

 

This light offers us this.

 

 

 

Faith that there is a path out of ‘where we are’ to ‘where we want to be’.

Some find it in God others just find it in ‘something better than what currently is.’ I imagine this little flickering light actually is a small gift given to us in Life as something tangible to focus on. The truth is that faith … the faith that it cannot get worse or faith that it has to get better … can sometimes seem so intangible.

So desirable but so difficult to grasp.

This candle offers us something tangible in our faith in what is good and right in Life.

 

This light offers us this.

 

 

 

Joy in simplicity. For within chaos, unrest and bedlam there is a strength & stability found in something as simple as a candle light.

In addition, in a world of celebrity events with huge spotlights, in a world in which we seem to celebrate the brightest of bright lights … it is nice to be reminded of the joy of a small simple light and the joy in reminding ourselves that small can create big things.

 

This light offers us this.

 

 

candle heart lit

Peace, or love, in … well … having the candle.

Have we ever so desperately loved even a glimmer of light than when we find ourselves stumbling in utter darkness?

Have we ever felt such calming peace with a glimmer of light then when having found ourselves wandering unsure down a road cloaked in darkness?

 

This light offers us this.

 

 

Purity of heart and what is good. Maybe I am naïve but I believe in people. I believe that when given a choice people will do good, will do what is right and will take the more difficult path to do those things. I believe that is the purity of people and human kind.

For some God offers the shining example of what we should aspire to and for others … a candle will have to do. For in its light we see not only hope, faith, joy and love … but also see within ourselves.

 

As it flickers to light we seem to take a moment where we get a glimpse of what we want to be.

And in that moment of pure reflection we sense our purity. That doesn’t mean we can grasp it <for I tend to believe it is a quest and not a destination> but it doesn’t matter. It offers us a glimpse of the power we have in making an impact against all that is not good, even evil, in our world.

 

This light offers us this.

 

 

That is what I thought about as someone somewhere lit another advent candle this Sunday.

 

 

My apology to God as well as to Christians who will most likely look at what I wrote in horror having stripped their message to clothe it in mine.

 

 

But because I am not affiliated with any specific religion I tend to believe my thoughts should appeal to everyone should they set aside their own religious filter.

 

 

Look.

 

There will always be someone somewhere who will bastardize what should be good and right into their own vision of what ‘right’ is.

And in doing so I could argue they no longer represent the true meaning from which they began their bastardized journey. They have lost sight of what is important and at their worst they come to embody something evil because it has strayed so far from the original true meaning.

candle advent 5 lit

 

Do I state that to justify my own bastardized journey on this topic? Maybe.

 

But I would like to think that I have remained in sight of what is important on my journey.

 

 

Regardless.

 

 

Maybe everyone should take a moment one night soon … at the darkest time of the night with no lights on and light a candle. And sit and think. It couldn’t do any harm.

And it may remind you of how good can be found in the smallest of things.

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Written by Bruce