The Candle Method

Today was the kind of day that everyone should know about before they do something rash like move to Oregon. Keep in mind that it’s mid-July and this picture was taken at 4:30 in the afternoon.

OK I’m lighting a candle for all the people out there who’ve moved to Oregon by mistake, for whom this kind of weather is Sylvia Plath on a plate.
There. See? When you can do nothing else, you can light a candle. For example if you’re desperate about something and it’s beyond your control and you can’t pray because you don’t believe in it or you don’t know how or you’re not in the mood, or if you’re so mad that you would knock the head off anyone who made such an annoying suggestion, you can light a candle and the candle will do all the work. It’s a Catholic thing, but anyone can use it. The Tibetans have something similar. Tibetan prayer flags. Every time the flag ripples in the breeze, it counts as a prayer.

Stick a candle somewhere, light it, and then you say who or what you’re lighting it for. Even the most avowed heathen can do that. At least it’s something.

PS: Like it says on the box: Never leave a candle unattended: no telling what the cat will do -- burn your house down. If you have safety issues, maybe you need to buy one of those little battery operated candles and just turn it on by the little switch on the bottom.

Here’s a bit from a poem/song by Leonard Cohen called Anthem:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.