prayer candles

so my most recent significant spiritual experience (or is it just a personal trend?) has been lighting prayer candles. i brought prayer candles to canvas (church) for a contemplative service a few weeks ago and everyone lit a prayer candle for the duration of the service. the prayer candle usually represents a particular prayer, and (for me, at least) is often one that is especially "frustrating." i am avoiding the word "burden," a word in my humble opinion that is overused and abused by evangelicals.

i light a prayer candle tonight for someone in my family...

"LORD make us instruments of your peace.
where there is hatred let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

o divine master, grant that we may not seek so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardonning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen"

-- attributed to John Bernardone ("Francis of Assisi"), 13th Century

the most important event in life

the lives of others not only help us understand ourselves, but also god. since all are created in the imago dei, then we better understand this image, the face of god, as we better understand those around us. what a stunning reality!

from this perspective, it seems to me that real conversations are likely the most important event that occurs in this life. and what makes a conversation a “real” one? i suppose if any one person in the conversation is coming to the table to learn something, then this is a real conversation. for it is possible that every conversation a person has is an opportunity to learn. and specifically whenever we make the effort to listen to others, we are the ones that learn from them. that, I am convinced, is very important to understand.

after a conversation with a particular vietnam vet this week, i realized that not every conversation will necessarily be enjoyable, per say. thus, while I may be proposing that conversations are the most important life events, i am also realizing that it is a discipline, an exercise, a very intentional decision. people are vain. they like to talk about themselves, maybe for no other reason than to hear themselves talk (or is that just me?).

but regardless of who is doing the talking, hopefully in the midst of an interaction, we become lost as we find ourselves, getting back in touch with our humanity. and as we get back in touch with our humanity, we become awakened to our spirituality: who we are as spiritual beings. our spirituality is found at the roots, at the very basis of our humanity. when we become honest with ourselves, with one another, we find ourselves and we find god. god is the creator of relationship, and is an example of perfect relationship, three in one. we, made in the imago dei, reflect this image. no wonder real human interactions are the most important events in our lives.