A LESSON LEARNED

Candles are very similar to people. Candles are beautiful. They come in many colors, scents, shapes and sizes. They come at different prices, are made from different ingredients and can be used for a variety of reasons. Candles are very similar to people. I have many candles in my house. Mostly I use them to make the house smell good. With two boys and a husband I need all the help in the "smell department" I can get! I do have some candles, though, that are more for looks than smell. They are cute. They are beautiful. I have received them as gifts. They are wrapped in pretty packages and their jars are unique and special. They also probably cost much more than my Wal-Mart specials. They're still candles though. No matter how pretty a candle is, no matter the packaging it is presented in and no matter how much it cost all candles have one thing in common. When we burn them, they burn. As candles burn they disappear. The wick turns black and shrivels. The rim of the candle jar changes color with smoke residue and the wax evaporates into the air. When a candle reaches the end of its life it is nothing but a puddle of leftovers. No matter what shape it started its life as, no matter if it was a special gift or an impulse purchase off the clearance rack, in the end, it ends as a puddle of melted wax. When a candle isn't used, however, it remains perfect forever. It will hold its shape for as long as you want it to and sit quietly on a shelf looking pretty and taking up space. The problem is it isn't ever allowed to serve its purpose. It isn't given the opportunity to light a room, let off a carefully crafted, sweet scent or entice oohs and aahs from admirers. Sure, once you light the candle it is the beginning of the end. Sure, after the first light the candle wick turns black and the wax begins to melt. The candle will never be the same. It won't look the same. It can't last forever. But it is alive! It is living! It is serving! It has a purpose!

Lesson Learned? Our lives are just like a candle's. We come into this world spotless. Beautiful. Pristine. Lovely. We arrive to different parents and across the Earth in different states and countries. We come in many colors, shapes, sizes. The way we are taught, the way we are raised and even the way we believe, all different. We come from a vast array of income levels. We eat different foods. We wear different clothes. But we're all people. We're all children of God. We were all created in his image. We're all here for a reason. The difference between us and the candle, though, is that we have a choice! A candle can't decide for itself if it wants to be lit or not. It can't spontaneously light its wick and fill the house with warm, scented light. But we do! We can sit on our shelf, perfect, full of beautiful wax and look good forever. We can maintain an image that tells the world we've got it all together. We can choose to "look good" over serving a purpose. We can choose to let another candle do the dirty work, burning, smoking and evaporating until there's nothing left. As long as we're left in our original state, untouched, unharmed, unscathed. We won't get burned. We won't get used. We won't melt. But in turn we won't get to give off a scent either. We won't bring light to the room we are placed in. We won't attract those around us. We will simply exist. Beautiful, yes. But only existing. Who needs a candle that refuses to burn? Who makes room for something beautiful and perfect but that serves no purpose? I think the choice is clear. We should be willing to BURN for a purpose greater than ourselves! Choose to be on FIRE! Yes, you will lose yourself to the cause. In the end, you will be nothing but a puddle of melted wax. Yes, you will burn. But your unique scent will fill the space around you. Yes, your edges may end up charred with black ash and scared from prolonged use. But you will carry those scars with pride knowing they were given for a cause greater than you can imagine. You are lighting the room! You are giving a pretty scent to all who pass! You are being used! You are serving! The process isn't always pretty. In fact, the reality of a purposeful life can be messy and it often takes from you more than it gives back but once you are all burned up, once you are nothing but a puddle of wax at the bottom of the jar and once your wick is all used up and has withered to nothingness you will hear the phrase our souls are all yearning to hear, "Well done good and faithful servant."

(April 2013)