|
|
|
THE VAIN
CANDLE
Once upon a time there was a
little candle that flickered timidly in a small
room. It cast a soft shimmering light in the tiny
home of a poor widow. Its glow danced merrily as
it added cheerfulness to its surroundings.
Sometimes it played with the children and helped them to
fashion grotesque shadows on the wall. You could
hear the gleeful laughter as the imaginary shapes of birds,
animals and even people appeared in the candle’s
glow. The widow was grateful for its friendly
light. It helped her do her housework and by
putting it near to her Bible she could read with the aid of
its light. She often remarked, “I don’t know what
I‘d do without this candle.” She remembered the
old Chinese proverb that, “It’s better to light a candle than
to curse the darkness.” Then too, she well
remembered what the Bible says about light. “The
darkness could not put it out.” John 1:5
(Goodspeed)
As time went on, the candle began to
feel very important and eventually became vain and
proud. As its vanity increased, it commenced to
feel very much dissatisfied with its lot in life.
It grew sullen and started to pout, “Why should I be confined
to this dingy room with no one to appreciate me except this
frail old woman?” Then the candle saw its own
reflection in the mirror that hung on the wall and concluded
that it was exceptionally beautiful. One dark
night when the window shade was not completely drawn, the
candle peeped through the crack outdoors and discovered that
its light reached farther then it previously thought
possible. “See,” it said, “I’m not given a fair
chance. They keep me shut up in this room when
they know I really could fill a much more important
role.”
Next thing, the candle began to throw
tantrums. It gave off offensive fumes and
sometimes it died down to a dim blue flame. At
other times, it lost its temper and got so hot and fierce that
it melted the wax around its collar. At last it
got what it wanted---attention. The kind old lady
wondered out loud, “What on earth has happened to my
candle. I’ve never see it act this way
before.” In the stillness of the long evening the
lady was startled by the
unmistakable sounds of a petulant
voice. It was saying, “I’m tired of burning out my
life in this dingy den. If I could be placed on
the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty, then I
could be appreciated by everyone. I could guide
ships in the dark and keep airplanes on their
courses. What good am I doing here?
Nobody appreciates my real importance. My life is
just wasted here. What’s the use! Oh,
what’s the use!” it moaned. With this outburst of
temper, it almost sputtered out completely.
Now
the dear old lady felt sorry for the candle. She
didn’t want to hamper its ambition to rise to a more lofty
place, although she was apprehensive about it taking on such
disproportionate responsibility. She cautioned the
candle with the wise counsel, “That ability and capability
usually determine one’s responsibility.”
“Nevertheless” she continued, “Although I think you’re making
a tragic mistake, I’ve some friends who will see that you get
your wish.” At this, the candle fairly danced for
joy.
In due time, a large quantity of string was
obtained and the fretful candle was on its way.
Soon influential men began “pulling the strings” and the
candle began a rapid rise above its equals. It
proudly exulted that no other candle ever rose so high
before. It blazed as brightly as possible so as to
attract as much attention as it could to itself, but a nervous
numbing fear gripped the candle when it compared its feeble
light with the blinding beams shed by other
lights.
Alas! Too late the candle
realized that the higher it got, the less it could be noticed,
and consequently the less useful it became. Soon
its tiny flicker was lost in the very heights to which it
aspired. When it reached the pinnacle and sat
beside the 1,000,000,000 candle power beacon, its presence was
not even noticed. Since it had always led a
sheltered life before, it was not prepared for the sudden gust
of wind that snuffed out its light altogether. An
alert janitor, tossed it into his cleaning bag, wondering how
it got there, and soon it was forgotten.
The
candle did not forget its lesson. Now it longed
for the privilege to be appreciated and serve a useful purpose
like it had done before. By envying the lofty
position of others, it lost the privilege of serving where it
could. It reflected that qualifications to perform
a task are more important than “pulling the strings” for
personal advantage. Advancement through merit is
the best road to promotion.
Many of us will
recall the lovely lilting childhood tune called, “Jesus bids
us shine.” Its message still applies and we should
memorize the words.
“Jesus bids us shine, first
of all for Him,
Well He sees and knows it, if our lights
are dim.
He looks down from heaven, sees us
shine,
You in your small corner, and I in
mine.”
In other words, we should make the most of
our gifts, using what we have in the place where we
are. Don’t spoil your life by aspiring to things
you can’t attain. The worth of an individual is
not determined by the heights you climb, but by how faithful
you are. One time the late King George of England
attended an outdoor event to which thousands of people
gathered. As the Regal party was being conducted
to their especially reserved seats, a rabbit hopped out on the
field in full view of all the spectators. The
terror stricken creature darted first one way and then
another. For a time that rabbit actually got more
attention than the King of England! It wasn’t
because the rabbit was so important, but rather that is was so
completely out of place! Attention of this kind is
a serious liability, for at all costs, it must be removed, so
the full consideration of the ultimate purpose may get our
undivided attention. Jesus said, “His Lord said,
Well done, good and faithful servant; thou has been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” (Matt.
25:23)
One president of the United States offered
to shake hands with a little boy who was proudly presented by
his mother. The boy could not get his hand out of
his pocket and the embarrassed mother, discovered that his
little fist clenched a handful of marbles. A few
marbles prevented him from shaking hands with the
president! A proper appraisal of the true values
in life will go a long way toward preventing us from grasping
present trifles at the cost of losing eternal
treasures.
| | |