Do You Keep Your Candle Trimmed?
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. – Matthew 5:14-16
Oh, You! Light of the world, shining before men!! So exciting, isn’t it? Yesterday we decided that our light of choice is a candle.
So if you’re anything like me, you’re going along brightly lit, flame burning high, offering a sweet aroma while you’re at it… yeah, that’s how we roll… we’re multi-tasking, aren’t we?
Then, BAM… a gust of wind snuffs our flame right out. When our flame is re-lit, we find that we’re smoking up the place and our aroma has gone to, well let’s just say less than desirable and certainly not anything Scentsy would carry!
We’re relit, our flame is high, so what could be the problem?
We forgot to trim our wicks, Brothers and Sisters! This is a necessary step that anyone who knows anything about candles is aware of, but we were so busy we forgot to read up on our new role as light-bringers, didn’t we?
You see, as a candle burns down and the wax liquifies, the wick lengthens and the flame can no longer get enough oxygen. Your candle will burn down too quickly, putting off smoke instead of true light and giving none of the fragrance we desire.
The sweet fragrance comes from the evaporation off the top of the wax pool. If the flame is too high above that pool, there will be no fragrance released into the air.
Now here’s the kicker. The wick of our candles must be trimmed with just the right instrument, because it must be able to reach down into the jar and cut at just the right angle, to just the right length. The instrument also must be very sharp, because any frayed ends of the wick will cause the above problems to re-occur, no matter the length wick becomes.
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. – Hebrews 4:12
That sounds like the perfect tool for our wick-trimming, doesn’t it?
Before we trim, we must dig out the bump of of wax around the candle wick.
Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. – Romans 6:2-4
New lives! That’s what we’re supposed to be living! By releasing all that build-up of our human natures, and the cares of this world, we are freeing ourselves to trim our wick so we can shine.
The way we were meant to, the way we aspire to, the way we’re equipped for. Shine, my friends!! Shine on!
Father, through the stresses and cares of this world, please help us to remember to give the proper care to our shine. Thank You for giving us the proper tools to do this, and the opportunity to glow for You! In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
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May God Bless You,
Shelly
