Kindle
Your Candle
“There
is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.
There
is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.
You
feel it, don't you?”
Rumi
An
email came recently from an old friend that listed all the material
changes in his lifetime—all the things we didn't have growing up
that we now think we can't live without. They included, of course,
cell phones, and computers, but also, television, clothes dryers, air
conditioners, dishwashers, credit cards, ball-point pens and
pantyhose. Back when 'grass' was something we mowed, 'coke' was
something we drank, and people addressed their parents, and other
adults, with 'sir' or 'mam,' though that may only have been in the
South. I do clearly remember getting a “whuppin'” for answering
my mother with, “What!” The kicker in this email story—the man
recalling those things is only 63. Much has changed in our lifetime.
Some is change for the better, like antibiotics and vaccines, and
some, not so much.
It
seems one item lost in all our “progress” is contentment.
Realizing how much—actually, how little—we truly need to get
through life without want. Getting more seems to create the desire
for more, and more and more. One wonders how we thought for an
instant that all that “getting” was sustainable. As we've crammed
our lives with materials, the holes in our souls have grown
exponentially. Which drives us to try to fill it with more. It simply
isn't doable.
According
to Rumi, the language of God is silence. The way to fill the hole in
our souls is to be with ourselves in silence, and allow Spirit to
fill us with contentment. We have everything we need. In fact, we
have far more than we need. We should give much of it away. If we
were able to clear away the clutter, inside and outside, we would be
able to see our candle, kindled and burning brightly.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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