Night Candle Meditations

Christmas is the time when our thoughts turn to giving and receiving, giving to loved ones and others in need while receiving gifts and blessings in return. Joy and happiness are present at family gatherings though pain and sorrow sometimes touch the heart when a loved one is missing. Collective materialism has captivated our culture, yet Christians continue to contend that the reason for the season is the birth of Christ. The nativity prayer is, "O holy Child of Bethlehem! Descend to us we pray; cast out our sin, and enter in; be born in us today." We sing with the Herald Angels that Christ was "born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth." How can this holy Child be born in us and what is a second birth? My previous posting used the illustration of a caterpillar spinning a cocoon and transforming into a butterfly. This process of metamorphosis may be thought of as a new or second birth. For humanity, a concise explanation of this process m...

As a person ages there is often a common desire to avoid change. This is especially true if such change displaces the comfort of the familiar. I wonder if this could be why so many resist the guidance of God's Holy Spirit toward a better way of thinking. Being comfortable with the familiar spins a cocoon of false security. As Christians, we live with continual change as we prepare for eternity.   So, what happens with the cocoons we spin? The wonders of nature used to compete with baseball in the minds of ten-year-olds. At least that was the way it was for Beverly and me. We were classmates and close friends with a common interest in collecting butterflies. At that time we were living in foothills of the Sierra Nevada Range in northern California. With an hour of free time after school we headed for a nearby riverside meadow. With nets in hand we traipsed through fragrant wildflowers seeking specimens for our collections. Part of our experience was the gathering of cocoons from va...

Many are familiar with the proverb, "A man who has friends must himself be friendly; but several translations cast a different light with the words, "a man of many companions may come to ruin." (Proverbs 18:24). The perceived contrast may be understood as the power of personal association is considered. Within a closed environment a person is bound to have close associations with others sharing the same conditions. Though a possible impetus, such shared experience in and of itself does not predicate friendship. Friendship develops from shared exploration of common interests, beliefs, goals, and purpose for living. It is possible to think that knowing and interacting with someone over a period of years is the essence of friendship. Recently one such individual said that he thought of me as a close friend. This was surprising to hear because of our diverse interests and activities. With values diametrical to my own, he and many others are not likely to progress beyond acq...

There are those of us who as parents have an explicit understanding of these words: "'Woe to the rebellious children,' says the Lord, 'who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin'" Isaiah 30:1. Many of us look ahead as we prepare to open the door to another year. Even with clouds of uncertainty obscuring tomorrow's horizons, we will continue to mark birthdays and anniversaries on next year's calendar, and there are always more plans to note. "There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the Lord's counsel---that will stand" Proverbs 19:21. Too often the plans we make fail to consider counsel the Lord gives. Within the heart lies that latent desire to follow our own way while failing to realize that God had planned something better. That something better would have enabled God to work with us in bringing a perfect plan together (see Hebrews 11:40). Christmas 1981 f...