The Emptied Heart

The candle’s heart, the wick, burns brightly when first lit. It melts itself in the giving of its offering of light. It knows only that is its calling. The giving of light is its purpose. But in its giving it must consume itself and burn deeper and deeper into itself. If somehow the outer core of its casing, its heart, is not also melted or broken, the candle will drown in its own offering, its gift.

The human heart gives forth its light of love, compassion, and service. Like the candle if left to burn only within its core it too will be doused in its offering. To give light the heart itself must be broken, burned and melted, not just the core. One’s light cannot burn for long clinging only to the wick. If allowed to melt and break away the outer shields of the heart, then the light, the melting and the casing, the heart, become one and burn brightly. And their brightness will continue, until at last, both the wick, its light and its heart are melted as one at the season’s end.