Week 4
Candlelight
Patsy Clairmont: “A Chinese saying suggests, ‘It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.’ That truth is worth pausing over and caught my attention because I’m given to highlighting the negative before I discover the positive. I’m not sure why that is…At the Relay For Life for cancer survivors, they place luminaries along the high school track in memory of those who have died fighting cancer. .. Instead of being depressed over their losses, they are celebrating their loved ones’ lives. Instead of forgetting the problem, those left behind are helping to find a cure for others… [I love the word instead; it reminds us that we have a choice.] … For many years when I heard of other people’s bad news, I moaned, ‘I could never bear that.’ Since those years I’ve gone through some crushing blows, much more than I thought I could bear, only to find that in my weakness I discovered new levels of Christ’s strength. The candelabra-truth that our God rises up mighty in our weakness blazes throughout scripture, as God’s people repeatedly fell on their faces in fear and rose up in courage…
There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle. – Robert Alden
Make a list of times when you have knelt down weak and risen up strong. Rehearse them until you have them securely fixed in your heart to reference the next time you find it hard to be courageous or the next time you get to share your flame to light someone else’s candle.”
Faithbooking Prompts [Questions from the book]::
• Are you emotionally war-weary? What brought you to this place?
• What would cause you to glow with hope?
• How could you be a blazing candle for ‘your people’?
• Do you underestimate God? How?
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