The Light Flickers Low

The candles on either side of the monstrance on the altar have burned down, and their light flickers low. Tonight as I come before you, Lord, the candles seem a perfect summary of life’s events this week. The dimming light matches my feelings.

My friend’s back in the hospital. I pray you are with her, Lord. Earlier this week she fearfully went in for treatment and was surprised, as was I, that she was sent home in one day. You are so good to us. But it didn’t last, and two days later she returned once more for more intense, life-prolonging treatments – but there will be no cure. I can’t be, but I know you will be there again with her tonight. She needs you, and I know she trusts you.

A friend called last night. My teen-aged Goddaughter seems to be making some poor choices lately, playing her divorced parents one against the other. I guess that’s not surprising, Lord, you and I both remember how it was when I was a teen – so you know I’m not casting any judgments on her. She sees me as an example, I know, but I hold no real influence with her. I wish I did. I’m just a dim candle in her life. But you, Lord, you are the Light, the Way, and the Truth. Please guide her in ways I cannot.

This week and especially tonight many people are praying for our country, as I am Lord. I think the situation we are looking at is in many ways strange, and I struggle to understand. Virtually everyone would admire a soldier who sacrificed his life to save a comrade, yet so many seem to understand the congressman in Washington, who wouldn’t sacrifice his life -- and not even his income, to save the future of millions of Americans – whom he says he represents. How can some people “understand” the actions of both? Perhaps it’s because they see the immediate risk of the grenade to the soldier’s friend, but can hope for some other savior to prevent the longer term explosion to America. I guess that’s why the people on Flight 73 acted, and helped crash a plane in a field in Pennsylvania – a plane which was destined to crash in Washington, where the congressman worked. How ironic. He can accept being saved, but not saving. I guess only you would die, would sacrifice yourself Lord, for the greater good. Where is the border of where we expect men to just be men, versus men to imitate you, both man and God? Are our expectations too low?

Do we see the soldier as a kind of shining star, something we might wish upon, but not reach? And do we see the congressman as someone here on earth, like us, in the growing darkness? Have we given up on Hope, hope in You, and replaced it with mere wishes of how things might be?

On some days much of our life seems like the dying candles on the altar, and we await the darkness. But we’re looking at those little lights as if they are the most important things, because they flicker and attract our attention. But they are NOT the most important things. On the altar, You, You are at the center. Lord, you are the most important thing. All the lights, all of creation, are there to give you glory, yet we so often focus on these side things as if they were the most important. And we forget you. We look at our lives, our careers, our safety as more important than You.

My life, Lord, needs you at its center. I need you as my Hope. The trials, the disappointments, and even the inevitable deaths around us may darken our days, but like the flickering candles on the altar, they will soon be replaced. Then we will again see bright lights, joy and the fullness of life, and it will be easy to see you at the center of all things, and give you praise. But whether in the darkness or in the light, Lord you are still there at the center of the altar, the center of our lives, the center of the world, and the center of all creation.

Bless us, dear Lord, with hope, for those times when the light flickers low, and it is difficult to see you. Help us to remember the bright lights past, and have confidence in the bright ones to come.

Bless my friends, Lord, my country, and its future. Let me be your light for those who cross my path this day, and let me be of help also, to your future children who I will never know. Perhaps for some, that because of my actions or prayers they may even be allowed to have life, and perhaps for others that their life might not seem so dark because of actions I was afraid to take today. Lord give us the courage by our actions to imitate your love, for all your children, today and tomorrow.

Lord, help us all to be witnesses to Hope.

My Jesus, I trust in You.

With all my voice I cry to the Lord,
With all my voice I entreat the Lord.
I pour out my troubles before Him;
I tell him all my distress
While my spirit faints within me.
But you, O Lord, know my path.
-- Psalm 142