Spirit Candles--Ornamental or Useful?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord" Proverbs 20:27

"Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness," Chinese Proverb

We used to buy cheap, plain little white candles by the dozens back in the 80 and early 90s when we had frequent blackouts in Xiamen. Power was out almost daily, sometimes for several days at a time. Several times I had to use a candle even in Xiamen's best bookstore, on Zhongshan Rd., because the power was out in the middle of the day in this windowless store.

Today we seldom have power outages, and the less we actually use candles the more ornamental they have become. We can buy candles in every size, shape, color and fragrance imaginable. They're beautiful, but so pricey that no one wants to actuallyburn them, and an unlit candle may be beautiful but it is, practically speaking, useless.

How many of us are unlit candles? Over the years we may have taken on status, and appear beautiful or classy or professional, but we shed no light because 1) we may not know we are in darkness, and 2) candles shed light only by giving of themselves, and diminish over time, and so we try to preserve ourselves.

Even an unlit candle's days are numbered, and it is eventually tossed in some forgotten drawer or sold off for a few cents in a yard sale. Our days, too, are numbered, and whether we preserve our beauty or burn, we are eventually put away in a box, six feet under, and forgotten--unless we have lived our lives as we were intended to, by shedding light and making a difference.

The world, like modern Xiamen, is ablaze with artificial light, but behind much of it is emptiness, darkness, and a sense of futility. It is a bright light but fragile, and easily disrupted by storms, floods, wars. We were created to be a lasting light. So as the ancient Chinese said, "Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

Blaze!