Jan Sutch Pickard said, “Carrying a Candle, from one little place of shelter to another is an act of love.”

I like that picture, it invites us to live as candle bearers for each other, leading the way to safety when darkness in any form threatens another.

Religion sometimes seems to be about finding the light and keeping it for oneself, or at least dictating what the light looks like or who can hold it.

Religion at its best, however, invites us, encourages us, to take what little light we have found out there into the cold and dark, out there where the wind blows and where our feeble flames are threatened constantly.

For myself, it would be arrogant to think that I have all the light, to believe that my flame is strong enough never to flicker or fail. While I have been privileged to lend my light to others when they are in dark places, I have often found others, and often surprising others (to the conventionally religious, that is) ready to share their light with me until I regain a little place of shelter.

So a big thankyou to all who have kept their flame alight and helped me and others when the darkness threatened. You may never know when you helped someone but those of us who found shelter with you, we know.

Shine on, my friends, or at least flicker away!