Lighting a Candle

Here is a quote from an email I received this morning, from my dearest and oldest friend in South Africa. The first sentence expresses exactly what I've been feeling. And the second brings thoughts I'd like to share today.

"Reeling with dreadful earthquake disaster in Japan - so soon after New Zealand's.  Have lit my candle trusting God's transforming love will touch them somehow."

I was brought up in a home where, apart from those on birthday cakes, candles were never lit... not that I can remember anyhow. At my high-Anglican junior school things were different because we had candles in chapel. I think. But I never considered lighting candles for a specific purpose until I read Rumer Godden's 'A Candle for St. Jude', St Jude being the saint of lost causes, as you probably know. The story hasn't stayed with me, although I usually enjoyed her books.

These days I light a candle soon after I wake, while I do my prayers and meditations. Then my husband lights a candle and reads a verse when we sit down to breakfast together. Weirdly, that's it for the day. Yep, nothing in the evening (unless it's Christmas or we have guests for dinner) or late at night.

So what is the significance of lighting a candle, apart from the soft glow the light brings, and if we're lucky, the sweet perfume of bees on the air? I think the gesture brings a moment of consciousness, and maybe we stay in that different level of consciousness while that candle is burning. In other words, it marks the moment and takes us into another space.