BiGGER
BETTER
BRIGHTER
that’s what it’s all about in our world today, isn’t it. . .
and oh guess what. . .
we’ve been told countless times over
IN FACT
just watch the news
or just being in a group of people that you don’t even know
standing in line at a grocery store
or a coffee shop
S T O P
Listen to all the bad news that the world is giving us
P L A C E S
As if we don’t have those very dark places in our life
that are asking for what not a bonfire
not even a candle
or even a constant flame. . .
How about just a
F L I C K E R
just a flicker of Hope
and psssssssssssssssssssssssssst:
even if it comes from a
fake candle
that gives
it’s better than a brand new one that doesn’t. . .
so maybe the biggest question is:
ARE YOU THAT FLICKER
FROM A FLAME
AND LIGHT
A DARK SPOT
IN A DARK PLACE
TAHT NEEDS TO BE ILLUMINATED. . .
Are you?
BE THE SPARK
THE EMBER
THAT STARTS
THINGS
G L O W I N G
A Candle Maker’s Lesson
(PART TWO AND MY LAST SHAMELESS OFFER OF
THE CANDLE MAKER)
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The Candle Maker
by Amazon.com
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I wrote this book over twenty years ago
without giving much thought
to exactly who might actually be reading it
some twenty years later
without giving much thought
that most of those reading it. . .
I didn’t even know
or hadn’t ever met then
B U T
the one common thread
to this tapestry
was always the hope that it would do
FOR YOU
FOR OTHERS
what it had already done for me. . .
The Premise
is also the Promise:
IF YOU’RE NOT BRINGING THE LIGHT
YOU’RE ADDING TO THE DARKNESS
Most of my life
people have asked me,
“WHAT’S YOUR SECRET?
Why are you always upbeat?
Why do you never seem to have a bad day or let things get you down?
THE CANDLE MAKER
is my answer. . .
It’s the shortest book
that’ll take you a year to read
l i t e r a l l y
because every day
it invites you to read
one of the
Candle Maker’s Lessons
(there are 12 of them)
three times a day
(morning, afternoon, before bed)
(90 seconds)
for 365 days. . .
JUST DOING THAT
is kind of life-changing. . .
Out of the some 18.6 million
self-help books published last year
each tell a different perspective
that worked for
each individual author
which means it may not actually work
FOR YOU
but it’s worth the venture
in finding out
or best yet
cutting/pasting
what works and doesn’t work
FOR YOU. . .
which is why
I’m sharing the first of the twelve
Candle Maker’s Lessons
(Don’t wait to start something when you can begin IT now)
THERE ARE SOME THINGS I CANNOT LEARN IN THE PLACE I AM SEEING THE LIGHT. . .
So I will look. . .look. . .look and trust that where there is darkness–the light is sure to come.
I can only see can find if I’m truly seeking in the right places. I will make where I am the only right place to be today.
This day I will spend my time, not just in seeking, for the search will offer up it’s own reward. This day, I will look in the places where only the light shines, not in the darkness, hoping.
If there is any darkness in me, I will save it for another time, for it too, will be illuminated.
For this day, this moment, center stage, even if it’s off left or right, will be the only place in my life where the light happens to be shining, spot-lighting me to be.
By choosing to spend every awakened moment in the light, the dark will neither harm or mis-direct me.
This is the day I’ve been chosen to live. I will throw my head back freely to look up in bask in its warm glow. . . I am thankful for it’s un-flickering guidance.
If I advance to it tomorrow it will only be because I have learned well enough the lessons needed to make the trip and accept this day‘s gift of tomorrow.
I will be blinded always, to the darkness and not from it. The light on my path is sufficient for this day and my time in it.
I will play, work, eat, drink and sleep this day—learning, relaxing, and preparing for all the lessons necessary for this day’s flicker alone.
When this day ends, I will not end with it. I will look on where the light will be kind enough to illuminate my way to richly granted tomorrow.
WILL IT WORK FOR YOU. . .
You’ll never know
UNTIL YOU KNOW
Give yourself a Light
that’ll incinerate
the dark places
having no more
s p a c e
in your life
N O W
CLICK:
TURN ON YOUR LIGHT
and then
S H A R E
I T
The Candle Maker
would like to gently remind you:
DEVOTING YOURSELF TO A CAUSE
DEVELOPES THE CRUSADE
. . .journey on
(e n l i g h t e n e d)
END-L I G H T I N G
I love Candles. . .
I love the actual act of simply lighting Candles.
I Love how they make a room look.
I love how Candles can make a room smell.
I love how Candles illuminate something in me that nothing else quite can. . .
especially if music is playing;
I love that one of our friends with their kids made candles
and gave Erin and I each one last week;
I love the flickering dancing of a small flame from a Candle. . .
Y O U ?
Go figure. . .
Hanukkah and Christmas Eve are NOT the same days this year;
. . .in fact, we are already nearly in the middle of Hanukkah
and it’ll end in the evening of Wednesday, December 20. . .
four evenings before Christmas Eve. . .
My favorite Hanukkah Story is one of my Favorite Christmas stories:
Right before sunset a young boy and his mother were about to light the Menorah and he asked her,
“MOM, DO YOU LOVE ELENA MORE THAN YOU LOVE ME?”
As the rest of the family gathered around to Light the Menorah, she whispered back to her son, “Honey, I will answer that question when we light the Hanukkah Candles.”
She lit the Shamash, (the Candle that lights the other candles of the Menorah) held it high and said,
“ALL MY LOVE IS IN THIS FLAME. I AM GOING TO GIVE ALL MY LOVE TO GRANDMA AND GRANDPA.”
She lit that first candle, held the Shamash high above.
“LOOK, I STILL HAVE ALL MY LOVE.”
“NOW, I’M GIVING ALL OF MY LOVE TO YOUR DAD,”
She said as she lit the second candle, holding the Shamash high above and proclaiming,
“LOOK, I STILL HAVE ALL MY LOVE.”
“NOW, I’M GIVING ALL OF MY LOVE TO YOUR SISTER, ELENA,”
she said as she lit the third candle and then held the Shamash high above exclaiming,
“LOOK, I STILL HAVE ALL MY LOVE.”
“NOW I WILL GIVE ALL OF MY LOVE TO MR. BENSON, OUR NEIGHBOR WHO HAS NO FAMILY OF HIS OWN,” she said as she lit the fourth candle and held the Shamish high to say,
“LOOK, I STILL HAVE ALL OF MY LOVE.”
“NOW, FOR MY FRIEND CATHY WHO IS IN THE HOSPITAL,”
she said as she lit the fifth candle and once again held the Shamash high as she boldly said,
“LOOK, I STILL HAVE ALL MY LOVE.”
“NOW, HERE IS SOME LIGHT FOR ISRAEL, IN HOPE FOR PEACE,”
She lit the sixth candle, held the Shamash high to extol,
“LOOK, I STILL HAVE ALL OF MY LOVE.”
“NOW, I WILL GIVE ALL MY LOVE TO CHILDREN WHO DO NOT KNOW FROM WHERE THIER NEXT MEAL WILL COME.”
She lit that seventh candle, held the Shamash high and confidently stated,
“LOOK, I STILL HAVE ALL OF MY LOVE.”
“NOW. . .NOW, MY SON, I WILL LIGHT THIS EIGHTH CANDLE. AND I AM GIVING ALL OF MY LOVE TO YOU.”
C O U L D I T. . .
could it be that one Light ends at the same time Another Starts?
Could it be that they
ALL JUST CONTINUE TO
f l i c k e r
on. . .
enlighten. . .
to the eye that notices?
L I G H T I N G
is a VERB
For all Seasons
For all Days
For all Moments
For A L L
Maybe. . .
Maybe it’s all about just when the
Wick comes to Flame. . .
m a y b e
it’s all about
O N-L I G H T E N I N G
and less about
E N D-L I G H T E N I N G ?
S O . . .
S e e. . .
B e. . .
F r e e
that magnificent Light
w i t h i n
for all those
w i t h o u t. . .
I T I S I N E V E R Y O N E O F U S
Let’s in our own way
Let’s in our own time
p r a y
Be ENLIGHTENED
To ENLIGHTEN
To SEE
Cuckoo’d
Ever get a little Cuckoo?
I did once–back in 1986–for Christmas, actually. . .
It was a gift—-R E A L L Y !
Just married,
6 months before
to blend a woman, a man,
her daughter and his two into a brand new family. . .
He was a member of First Christian Church there on E. Beau Street in Washington, PA. where I was an Associate Minister at the time. . .
I forget his name, Last and First. . .
I barely can remember what he looks like. . .
in fact, don’t send the Police Sketch Artist over
unless he can just draw,
“Balding and elderly with wire rim glasses.”
. . .but his gift. . .
I Remember. . .
He thought it would be a nice gift
–Christmas or not–
for our newly formed family,
with the girls and all. . .
So for the annual Rummage Sale, this
Forgotten REMEMBERED Gift-Giver
saw us all eyeing up a Cuckoo Clock–
his and, though it was in fact his donation to the cause,
he actually bought it for us. . .
thought it the right thing to do. . .
FOR SURE, IT WAS A KIND GESTURE. . .
U N F O R G O T T E N
. . .and it gets even better. . .
He came over and installed it
T H A N K F U L L Y
Because I’m lucky to put together a few stumbled words that make any sense let alone a Cuckoo Clock that was in a
s h o e b o x–s i z e 1 0–m e n’ s. . .
He came over and under all of our watchful eyes,
not only assembled it piece by piece
but hung it on the wall and showed us how to carefully pull down the weights
and presto with one gentle push of the pendulum
it began ticking and tocking in a most comforting way. . .
We could all hardly wait and then. . .
and then it happened it hit 6:00
and that Cuckoo came out for the very first time. . .
we witnessed it with wonder and awe. . .
It seemed to be that way every time we heard it,
day,
night
or middle of the night until. . .
UNTIL we moved. . .
We moved to Bay Village, OH
early next Summer, to a new Church,
Westlake Christian Church
and set up our home. . .
but the Cuckoo Clock didn’t fare so well;
It made the trip just fine. . .
it was carefully packed and unpacked. . .
It was the HANGING. . .
I didn’t know the Cuckoo had actually been Tried and Convicted. . .
but the HANGING was a brutal, unmerciful
ACT OF DESTRUCTION
The Cuckoo never appeared again. . .
Oh, yeah,
the Clock was hung up on the wall,
several actually,
but it didn’t work right again. . .
I don’t think I got that
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED
part right. . .
The Cuckoo found an unsightly burial on a garage heap early one
Tuesday morning. . .
never to be heard of again. . .
never to make an hourly appearance. . .
h i s
T I M E
i s
O U T
I’ve loved Watches all of my life–
Thanks, Pap. . .
His I L L U M I N A T E D at night.
I’ve always been about
T I M E
MAKING IT
WASTING IT
SEARCHING FOR IT
SAVORING IT
SAVING IT
but it does
G O
one tick-tock at a time. . .
some faster. . .
some slower. . .
some unnoticed. . .
some forgettable. . .
some unfathomable. . .
some unimaginably memorable. . .
some. . .
APPLE
just came out with another new Watch;
I didn’t buy it,
I don’t think I will. . .
The Cuckoo taught this Dodo a very valuable lesson. . .
still is ;
No Watch,
No Clock,
No Timepiece,
No Woman,
No Man,
No Child,
N O M A T T E R
will ever give me any more time. . .
And, and that’s,
that is OK. . .
I have all the Time there is,
w a s
and will be. . .
T I C K
T O C K
T I C K
T O C K
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
C U C K O O
cuckoo