Sitting outside under the night sky for the Christmas Eve service, I watched as one by one, the candle flame passed as each congregant tipped his unlit candle toward his neighbor’s tiny flame and then turned to light the next candle along the row. A breeze blew lightly, and flames flickered, danced, fluttered. How sad if they were to blow out, I thought. But then I realized we would simply relight them. Someone with a lit candle would start the process again. As long as there was at least one lit candle, we would be able to start again.

I think this is an illustration for our spiritual life as well. Like winter breezes to candles out in the open, there are many challenges and trials that can wear on our souls – illness, broken or strained relationships, work that doesn’t fulfill, provision that seems slow to come, bank accounts that run dry, adjusting to cultural norms that are different, living far from family. Where do we find a place of safety? 

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24,25) 

It is a protection for us, this gathering together, encouraging one another.  

When we grow weary, we don’t have to fear “what if my flame dies out?” We don’t have to white-knuckle our way through “keeping the faith.” We can find safety in a loving, Christ-centered community that can nourish us. It just takes one flame to relight a candle. 

This is a protection for souls that grow weary in a broken world. Our Father knows the waiting can be difficult, that this in-between time brings sadness, pain, loneliness. He provides protection for our hurting hearts in the family of God. Pursue and lean into the community the Father gives you, seeing protection in the spiritual body of Christ.