Candles. Not sure why I’m fascinated with candles. Every time I light one it feels like something magical, ethereal, maybe even spiritual is happening. I’ve blogged about candles before. I had observed the huge difference in the quality of candles, how hand made ones were vastly better than factory made ones. Particularly how candles made with love were the best.
This week I realised something about candles. Maybe it’s blindingly obvious to you but I just realised something this week. Above is a picture of a scented tea candle i have been using during my times of meditation and prayer. Notice the size of the flame, how bright it is.
Now here’s another candle:
The match is the same match as in the previous image so you have an idea of the scale. This is a coloured and hand carved candle from the Benedictine Abbey. It’s twice the diameter of the tea candle. Look at the size of that flame. Look at how bright it is!
And I used to think Well it’s a bigger candle, that’s why it’s brighter. except that’s not true.
Through the last 60 days of sabbatical and the last 214 days of journaling, covering 189 word processed A4 and 240 hand written pages, I have burned through a lot of candles of many different kinds. I don’t know a lot about how they are made, but I have observed how they burn.
I was taught, as a boy, that thin candles burn brighter than fat candles. Not true.
Thin candles burn faster than fat candles. True.
Taller candles burn brighter than short candles. Not true.
Taller candles burn longer than short candles. Sometimes true.
So what really makes the difference? Go back and look at the images. See it?
Look again. This time at the size of the wicks. Look at the thickness of the wicks.
Thick wicks burn brighter than thin wicks. True.
That thin strip of material twined together perhaps of two strands, maybe three strands. That’s what really makes the difference in how bright a candle burns. Something that we usually don’t see because it’s either burnt or burning. Or because it’s covered in wax, either at the tip of a new candle, or buried in the body of a candle. That’s what makes the difference. And I’ve had candles that look nice on the outside but the wick is so poor that it burns itself out just half way through the wax – what a waste of wax!
My son is studying a poem in English called What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali. You can see him perform it here. When we hear the title, nearly all of us think about $$$ and how little pay teachers get compared to doctors, lawyers and corporate executives. But Taylor Mali reminds us that teachers make a difference.
And like candles, like all of us, it comes from what’s inside. It’s not the fatness of your wax, not the colour of your decorations, not the cleverness of your designs that make you burn bright. It’s the quality of your wick. Is it good enough. Is it thick enough. Is it woven together properly. That part of you that no one sees but you and God. That part of you that is formed in secret, ready to burn bright or to snuff out. That part of you that could be great, and could bless many with your light.
I speak now to God’s people. You know who you are. If you think your wick is not good enough, not thick enough, not tough enough or strong enough, this promise is for you:
You are God’s flawless and pure children in the middle of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. – Philippians 2.15.
As one of God’s people, God has made your wick good enough.
Now shine bright. Make a difference.
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