One of my favorite parts about the celebration of our Advent season is the candles. I am enamored with them. I love candles but even more important is what they represent. I am trying to write about what each of these four weeks means to every one of us.
The first candle is HOPE. Where would the world be without hope? We could never move on after the tragedies we suffer without hope. The Christ-child brought hope to a dismal world and we are still celebrating this over 2000 years later.
The second candle is PEACE. We are still seeking peace in our troubled world. We have not achieved it globally or individually. But we do know that we need peace to serve others who may be different from us. We work on this every day at work, with our families, our neighbors, our country and the world.
The third candle is JOY. Our world can never get enough joy. The laughter of children, the smile on a baby’s face, and the hugs of loved ones we have not seen for over a year – all this is represents joy! Joy makes us feel happy and alive!
The fourth candle is LOVE. Where would we ever be without love? It is the love of others, families, churches, friends (and pets) that keep us going. The Christ Child when he grew up preached about love everyone. These four emotions are what make life worth living. We know this but celebrate it specifically during Advent.
There is more to this story, however, – the power of candles. In a very dark place, the candle can be seen far away! St. Francis of Assisi said, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
Candles and light are very important throughout our lives. One of the most powerful verses is from John1:5 “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”(NIV).He reminded us about this even before the Messiah came and the Christ child carried the light to all of us. The advent season reminds us about this every year and the candles are still burning brightly.