Life is like a Candle

One hot afternoon, I was sitting alone in my room and I felt the presence of God with me.  It was so intense that I started crying and I asked the Lord why he had come to visit me today.  He asked me to seat at the table in my room which I did.  There was a candle and a box of matches on the table, he then asked me to light the candle and let it seat on the table.  Like a child listening to her father, I obeyed.

When the candle was lit and well seated on the table, he said to me “Life is like a candle”.  I watched the candle earnestly as the flames danced upon its shoulders, waiting expectantly to listen and understand the wisdom the Lord wanted to teach me that afternoon.  The Lord continued...

“You are made to be a light in the world, you are made to dispel darkness and someday, just like the candle, your time will be up”.  I kept listening and watching the candle. The top of the candle filled with melted wax and it poured down its sides to the table and I heard the lord say to me “You were made to be an outpour unto the world.  Everything I have given you, the gifts, the wisdom, the love is meant to be outpoured into the world, not kept to yourself.  If the candle didn’t have an avenue to overflow, the wax would clog at the top and dim the flame, if you do not pour out to the world, you cannot shine brightly to the world; your light will be too dim to be seen. 

I nodded and watched as the wax slowly slipped down the sides of the candle, suddenly a light wind started blowing the flames of the candle and it seemed like it would quench the flame, it flickered and tossed from side to side but God instructed me to shield the flame with my hand which I did and the flame calmed.  Then he said “The storms of life will come and threaten to snuff life out of you, but never fear, always know that I am always there to shield you from these storms. If you watched closely you would have noticed that when the wind tossed the flames, more wax was melted and more wax flowed down, that’s what storms are meant to do to you, they are to make you stronger and help you learn more things you can share with the rest of the world who may find themselves in your situation.

I smiled.  When the wind stopped, I removed my hand from the candle, but I knew the Lord was not done, so I waited.  He asked me to pull the candle from the table, by this time, a lot of wax had flowed down the candle to the table and there was a lot of wax stuck to the table.  “After you have finished the race and left the world the mark you leave is like the wax stuck to the table, it is like the outpour of your entire life to the world.  Just like the candle, its outpour always remains long after the candle burns all its wax and even when you try to scrape it away, it always still leaves a mark on the table or any other surface it is placed on, that is how your life should be”.

I wondered in awe at the wisdom the Lord had just shared with me, there was a lot of truth ringing from his words.  Finally, the Lord said to me, go and write these things down.  I switched off the candle and picked my journal, the words the Lord spoke to me flowed through my hand into the pages of my journal and today, I present these same words to you.

Life is like a candle, live your life knowing that one day it will end and think about what you are leaving behind when you go because no matter what happens, the candle must always overflow, so will your life... whether you pour out good or bad things, whether the mark you leave behind will inspire people or mar their lives, you determine that.