The Advent Wreath is almost complete. It lacks only the Christ candle lit on Christmas Eve (or Day if you prefer) and the fourth purple candle on the wreath itself, the love candle. During Advent churches and individuals have moved the emphasis from hope to peace to joy and now to love. All of these lead to a primary focus on the central candle, the Reason for the Season, the Christ candle.
Some time on Christmas Day all of these candles will be extinguished. When all the decorations are boxed up and stored away, the Advent Wreath likewise will find itself placed in tissue or styrofoam peanuts, set in a box, and stored in a closet, the attic, the garage, or wherever until a day or two before Advent begins in 2012. Sad to say much of the spiritual focus of the candles on this wreath will be packed away as well.
I suggest a radical idea. Keep that fourth candle burning all year. Let the love candle stay lit as a reminder that God's love is available on more than a seasonal basis. God's love is just as much present in the rough times as in the party times. God's love endures through more than a season of festivity. It still brings its power to bear when resolutions are made and broken, when human love reveals itself in paper hearts and chocolate candy, and when God's love itself takes the form of a cross.
Somehow we need to be reminded during the rest of the year that divine love is the foundation for self-sacrifice and compassion and random acts of kindness that look beyond simple physical need. We need to see the light of God's love reflected in our conversations with our neighbors, in our business practices, in how we treat our families, and in how we do church. God's love should shine through those dark nights of frustration and despair. One candle can dispel a lot of shadows.
Keeping one candle burning all year might be a bit impractical. That's more than a few pennies worth of wax. An option might be then to decide that you will love others as God loves you which is all the time. You will show that love in attitude, word, and action. You will smile when you don't feel like it. You will say kind words when the person doesn't deserve to hear them. You will do acts of kindness knowing that you will never receive a thank you. That would keep the candle of love burning all year.
Our families would have an easier time getting along with each other and encouraging each other when situations got difficult. Our workplace would lose a lot of its frustration and political tricks. Just think about our churches! We would actually think more of others than of ourselves. We would honor others above ourselves. We would act more like the Savior who loved us enough to die for us. We would work together to build His Kingdom instead of trying to build our own. All because we refused to blow out the love candle.
God is love. Maybe in 2012 we could try to remember that for an entire year.
