candle dipping last night

 by joel

like other years too, we went candle dipping in the community room across the street. this time we all went together, all the people from our little community. it turned out to be enjoyed by all. i'm sure there were a few people, which had not been making candles since their school years, and our kids do it and love it each year. they get very creative and dip intentionally.
for me it's usually, this year too, bees wax which i very much appreciate, not just it's smell, but also the color and the fact, that it is a gift from nature to me.

and then there is the aspect of contemplation, dipping and seeing the candle grow. adding color after color (or even just plain bees wax), the candle gains in it's circumference. and it chances it's looks quiet a bit each time you dip in a new color of wax. i like to just go as i want to and feel like. some folks are strategist and plan the dipping and adding of this or that color. of repeating the pattern to dip. it is wonderful and anyone can do it, there is no special skill required, but one has to do it, dip in wax. cool down in the cold water and dry with a cotton rag. the candle is not growing out of thin air it is growing and getting a character by the way i want it to be. so much is like our daily doings, the rhythms of a day, a week, a month or even years. adding color and adding structure. repeating what is good for me for my sole, be eat the act of eating together in community with people and knowing that it is a privilege to be together and, adding the joy of love to and from one another. all given by our creator, our father God.

A candle's but a little thing
It starts with just a bit of string
Yet dipped and dipped with patient hand
It gathers wax upon the stand
Until, complete and snowy white
It gives at last a lovely light.
Life seems so like that bit of string
Each deed we do, a simple thing
Yet day by day if on life's strand
We work with patient heart and hand
It gathers joy, makes dark days bright
And gives at last a lovely light.


Author Unknown