Once upon a time a little candle stood in a room filled with other candles, most of them much larger and much more beautiful than she was. Some were white, some were blue and some were pink. She had no idea why she was there, and the other candles made her feel rather small and insignificant.
When the sun went down and the room began to get dark, she noticed a man walking toward her with a ball of fire on a stick. She suddenly realized that the man was going to set her on fire.
“No, no!” she cried, “Oh…! Don’t burn me, please!” But she knew that she could not be heard and so, she prepared for the pain that would surely follow.
To her surprise, the room began to fill with light. She wondered where it came from since the man had extinguished his fire stick. To her delight, she realized that the light was coming from her.
Soon the man struck another fire stick and, one by one, lit the other candles in the room. Each one gave out the same light that she did. During the next few hours, she noticed that, slowly, her wax began to flow, and she became aware that she would soon vanish.
With this realization came a sense of why she had been created. “Maybe,” she thought, “my purpose on earth is to give out as much light as possible until I’m gone.” And that’s exactly what she did. She gave out as much light to others as she could before she vanished.
Every Advent season, as we light the candles on the Advent wreath, we are reminded that our purpose in life is to give out as much light of God’s love as we can before we leave to be with Jesus forever. Amen!