Lighting a Candle

330 Marbles 
People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

    I cleaned my house today and while I was working, I lit a candle and placed it in the sand of my candle table.  Twenty years ago, I designed this table to go with my wrought iron bed.  It was partly reminiscent of my days growing up in the Catholic church but it also had the silica sand that is more common in my ex-husband’s Greek church.  Over the years, I’ve added a few items to the table: a jade Ganesh (remover of obstacles), a stone Buddha, a Virgin Mary candle, a wolf clan carving, photos of my ancestors.  It’s become a hodgepodge of religious paraphernalia not unrelated to my melange of beliefs. 
   These days when I light a candle, there’s no coin in a box, nor a specific prayer or entreaty for divine intervention.  Instead, I say a silent “Thank you” and I ask for Spirit to come to me, to come to my home.  It is a quiet moment that I take to remind myself that I am not just my body.  It helps me remember that I am way more than this breakup and this moment in time.  It allows me to connect to that part of me that is eternal and divine.  

Hmmm, I can only really comment on what fortifies my spirit and sometimes the ritual of lighting a candle does the trick.  What fortifies your spirit?  Maybe it's simply dancing, having a bath, or going for a nature walk. Can you find some time for a date with spirit?