Day 17 The Lit Candle of Hope

Hope is a very bright light and as the world slips into darkness it is one of the greatest treasures that you can bring others, for when you’ve lost hope, you’ve lost the desire to keep on living. Yet there are so few who bring this precious gem to others. Words can bring life or they can bring death. Out of the tongue comes blessing or curse. So, at this time try and become aware of the voices in your head and what they whisper to you. Are your thoughts ones of hope and light or darkness, foreboding and woes. Our minds are the captain of our ships. Our thoughts direct whether we sail into calm or choppy waters. So, we need to become aware of them, for if we do not, we may end up in those waters any way. As your ship is sailing, you have the rudder in your hand. Don’t give it to another to steer your ship. Take firm hold of the rudder and choose which waters you desire to head into. If it’s into turbulent waters, then keep allowing yourself to think negative foreboding thoughts, for they will definitely get you there. However, if you desire to be in calm waters during this time, you must learn to take any negative thoughts captive and turf them out of the home of your heart and mind. But how can one be at peace and think life giving thoughts when one can see so many suffering and death knocking at so many doors? One can if one remembers that the very last thing that those who are suffering the most would want, is for others to find themselves in the land of mental health problems. No one wakes up one day and finds themselves in this land. They arrive there after a combination of often hard or tragic events begin to push them down that road. Nothing in them has any desire to go into this land, but somehow they may end up here. It is a dark place, a bleak place, often lacking hope. Being without hope is a desolate place to be. It is at those times that we need the hope that others can bring us, especially when we can find no hope of our own. In our darkness we need the light of others. We need to feel cared for, valued, appreciated, liked and maybe even loved. We have to find a reason to want to keep on living and many times we believe the world would be better off without us. Such a place is indeed the darkest of all places. Yet if each of us could bring a lit candle to someone in that dark place today, we would leave behind a little light that they might be able to gaze upon and find some solace and comfort from. Too many come not with lit candles but wanting to blow out whatever lit candles are there. They come with a harsh word of criticism or put down or snide asides. They blow out others candles. Be careful, for you know not at this time those in greatest darkness. They may seem fine. They may even appear jolly. Don’t be deceived into believing that all those in the greatest darkness will tell you or appear depressed. At this time, be determined to bring hope to everyone you meet. Leave everyone with a lit candle and if you know you’re one of life’s ‘candle blower outers’, then stay indoors and come face to face with the captain of your ship and recognise that you may need to use this time to learn how to be a bringer of light into others darkness’s.

What are the voices in your head, whispering to you during this time?

Become aware of your thought life. Two or three times today, stop and notice your thoughts and write them down. Were your thoughts ones of light and hope or fear, foreboding and woes?

Where do you find your lit candles of hope?

Who are those who blow your candles out?

Who needs the lit candle of hope that you can bring them today?