Burning the Candle at Both Ends

Burning the candle at both ends is a saying that we refer to when we are working so frenziedly to keep all the plates spinning, all the ducks in a row, all deadlines being met.

I used to take it as a compliment when people referred to me as the Energizer Bunny, the stuffed toy from the commercial that just kept going and going. I was a doer and I did, but just like the candle that burns, it can get burned out. When your candle feels like it’s burning out, you may think why bother relighting it.

There was a time when I didn’t want to relight anything. I was more than tired, and the darkness lured me into its confines. What would be the point in shining my light again just so I could work up into a dizzying pace.

But then I considered the candle, the actual physical candle and watched my particular pillar candle as its flame grew from the base of the wick. At times a small air current would rattle the flame and it would quiver, teetering on extinguishing. Other moments it would grow long and thin and then retreat to a squat wavy light. And, as I watched I realized that barring a stiff wind or a rain cloud this light would stay lit for me. And I needed that light. Its raze were comforting; its raze served to guide me; its raze connected me back to hope.

This made me ponder. Perhaps we like the candle also provide comfort, guidance, and hope when we keep our candle on. The one inside. The one that shines when we connect with another. Perhaps that is what we are saying to one another when we greet or bid adieu to a friend or stranger, when we bow our heads and offer Namaste.
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of peace
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you and
I am in that place in me
Then there is only one of us