A Candle Loses Nothing- Daily Meditation August 22, 2022

Today’s quotation:

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. -Erin Majors

Today’s Meditation:

And a teacher loses nothing by teaching another person.  Many people have the mistaken idea that they somehow diminish themselves when they give to someone else, but nothing could be further from the truth.  We are flames ourselves–lights in the darkness–and our flame diminishes not even the slightest bit when we share what we are with other human beings.

If I give away money, the amount of money I have does diminish.  But my spirit grows.  If I give away part of my book collection or my record collection, then they grow smaller.  But my soul grows richer.  And I’ve found through experience that it’s not until I’m ready and willing to give things away without conditions attached that I’m able to attract more of the same back to me.  We don’t receive until we’re able to give, for the door of giving and receiving is the same door, and we have to unlock and open it from the inside.

But those are material parts of our lives.  How can we light someone else’s candle with our own flame?  Through encouragement, through teaching, through compliments and kind words.  We can light someone else’s candle by being there to listen and by accepting them for who they are, exactly as they are.  And not only do we lose nothing in lighting their candle, but our flame can grow more steady and more sure as we reach out and touch other people’s lives.  And the aggregate light of the world will grow with every new candle that is lit, bringing more and more light to the darker places in this world we share.

Questions to consider:

Have you lit someone else’s candle recently?  How?  How did it feel?

Why do many people shy away from giving to other, even just encouragement or kind words?

How can we increase the amount of light in the world?

For further thought:

Simply give others a bit of yourself; a thoughtful act, a helpful idea,
a word of appreciation, a lift over a rough spot,
a sense of understanding, a timely suggestion. You take something
out of your mind, garnished in kindness out of your heart,
and put it into the other person’s mind and heart.-Charles H. Burr