Being reminded of the meaning of Spirit through a 5 year old stress tantrum

Recently I took some time to sit in the quiet. I contemplated the lack of stirrings anywhere. Even the constant drone of the refrigerator seemed to have abated and with everyone, including cats totally asleep in the house, there was stillness that I am not often privy.

The stillness was laced in a knowing. A stillness laced in the sparkling energy of being totally in that moment at that time.

Instead of a lamp light I decided on a candle. Candles are interesting items. They are made with a fuel to keep the flame going on a thin core or wick that the fuel surrounds. Most of my candles are the basic wax type that may or may not have scent. I do have one or two that I am fond of that are made from honey comb and even some laced with herbs. Tonight I chose a simple candle. The candle was one that was given to me as a gift. It is simple and white, with a wrapper that explains that it was prayed over to offer healing energies to the person that burns the candle.

I have come to understand that healing energies are really spirit manifesting through prayers and intentions of hope and love. Anytime that is gifted and available it is a beautiful thing. So, in this stillness, I chose a candle gifted through love.

As I watched the candle burn I realized that sometimes the flame would subside to almost nothing and then for no apparent reason spring back into a full glow. I realized that if I tipped the candle one way or another to allow the liquid wax to get out of the flames way that it would become brighter still. How much of that candle is such symbolism for us each and every day.

I had just spent a couple of hours dealing with a really over stressed 5 year old who had his first day of Kindergarden. Certainly he had been tipped to the point he couldn’t even feel the warmth of his internal flame. It took lots of sitting on mom’s lap, lots of love and gentle coaxing to talk about his day to help restore a sense of calm and allow his flame to be fueled. 

We ALL have been gifted with love, all of us through the power of Universal Creation. However you think of God, in whatever word you choose for God, and whatever characteristics you associate with God, the one total constant I think everyone can agree is that Universal Love is the solid building block of everything Divine has to offer. That spark of Divinity is built into each and every one of us, much like the candle had a wick built into its core. We sometimes need a jump start, a spark from another source to ignite our own wicks. This may be an act of kindness from another, it may be a smile or a hug, it may be that small internal prayer we have sent out to understand and know more. Some of us are blessed with knowing that really, the spark never goes out. It may seem like the wick has no heat at times, it may seem rather small and insignificant, but the spark never leaves us alone. It can’t. We are indeed tiny little seeds delivered to grow in this garden called Earth by the Creator; Seeds that are direct descendants of that same Creator. That wick, that spark is very much like our own spirit. We do have one. It can be dim at times, and sometimes, with the right effort, it can fill the room and indeed the world with light. We have to take care of and nourish our personal spirit.

It occurred to me that if the light of the candle was indeed akin to our spirit then the fuel, the wax, is our soul. I have heard some teachings that look upon spirit and the soul as two different words for the same concept. The spirit however, has our direct link to the Divine spark; our soul is that link between our spirit and our flesh. We are unique creatures in that we are spirit, we are sparks of Divine and yet we have this mortal shell that sometimes presents itself as the real reason we are here, sprouting, growing and trying like hard to learn to bloom in the Earth Garden. Our soul fuels the spark if we encourage and love in all ways. We have the unique ability to change the ingredients of our fuel. We can change its color, its location, its texture and indeed can change its vicinity to other types of fuels. We can tip the fuel when needed to allow fresh air to come and allow the spark to rise. The soul is our nourishment for spirit. The soul is the link between the garden and the divine. When we find the right combination of fuel, the right placement of the candle stick and indeed sometimes even a change of the substance of the wick at the very core of the soul we allow our spirit to sour brighter and allow for our communication and guidance to be much more direct from our Source than relying on the data we receive from the Earth Garden. We grow more, we love more, we learn more and we are able to serve more.

Where is our body? Where is the vehicle that we need to maintain in order to function and learn the true meaning of love? It is the candle holder. Grand isn’t it? We are able to shine it, we are able to make sure it is clean and lovely, we can adorn it with decorations, change its finish, its location and even the house that it has been placed. It does not light on its own. It had no fuel. It does not light the way without the glowing spark. It is a vessel. A beautiful vessel. One that is capable of carrying the love contained in the Divine spark anywhere. It is able to shine in that light and be a reflection of that light for all around it. It needs to be taken care of so that both soul and spirit have a place to grow. It, however must always know its place as a servant and carrier of that Light. When the vessel starts to outshine the spark within, become more valuable, the spark will start to fade and the makeup of the type of fuel in the vessel changes. Flakes of the vessel mix with the fuel trying to allow its own ‘ego’ to shine. I have heard it said that too much of that type of ego “Eases God Out”. Certainly some scrubbing would be in order, and some filtering of the fuel to allow the candle to burn brightly again.

I also thought about how bright the little candle in front of me was glowing. I sat in my living room and wondered how many people would not be able to look right on that flame. I wondered how many would feel like it was too hot, or too bright, or maybe the fuel was not scented correctly for their tastes. There are so many different types of candles in the world. There are just as many different types of vessels for those candles. We choose our own. We each need to be comfortable with the flame we choose to nourish or not nourish. We choose the method of nourishment, although in the silence it is much easier to hear, feel and know exactly what our personal fuel and hence flame needs. It is then a choice if we will go the extra steps needed to refine the fuel, keep fueling, keep loving, keep serving, keep shining in the darkness effectively giving the nourishing light to our garden seeds and sharing that light with those other garden seeds who have landed near our own. Even when the sharing means mustering a ton of patience and understanding. And it seems like that is a very necessary component. Especially when dealing with 5 year old meltdowns. It is worth the effort after all, the more nourishment and sunlight a garden gets the more lush all its contents.