Before I start this new piece, I want to thank my wife, Pat, who proofs all the stuff I write. She is knowledgeable and good. I do editing on several other sites for friends, but wouldn’t dream of dealing with my own stuff. I appreciate the most excellent job she does. Pat is, indeed, MY candle in the wind!

I’ll say this straight and upfront! I love candles! In fact, all our kids love candles. When we used to go camping near Gatlinburg, TN, we would wander up and down the main drag. The candle shops were NEVER overlooked. We loved looking at the candles that one would never burn…just too beautiful!

Thinking about candles brought back a neat memory. When our kids were all home, our youngest, Mark, decided he could make candles a whole lot cheaper and even give some away as Christmas presents. What is now our den, was then what folks here call a lanai or Florida room. The bottom three feet of the walls was concrete blocks. The rest was screened in. Due to our weather here, one could use the room maybe two days a year! (g) That was Mark’s room of choice in which to make his masterpieces. A few years after he’d gone off to college, we were still scraping up patches of wax from the terrazzo floor! (g)

Pat’s favorite scent is vanilla. I like a fragrance called “Spiced Cider”. You will rarely find me in my office without at least one candle burning. I once took part in an experiment at a huge crusade. All the stadium lights were turned off. People were then encouraged to light a candle or flick their Bic. It was amazing how much glow was generated by such humble devices.

During the Christmas season we see even more candles. We have one family in town that lines it’s lengthy driveways and walks with paper bags, filled with sand, and containing a candle. The flicker is just incredible.

How did I get off on candles this week? I drove past a church building this morning. Their sign said, “A candle is not diminished when it’s used to light another candle”. Wow! That just hit me between the eyes. For many years, I’ve taught a principle I call “Papa’s Pipeline”. The premise is that all good things come from Him. We pass those good things along, add our praise to the Father, and circulate His blessings among others. One of the points I make is that God is not diminished one whit by what He does in, for, and through us. The truth is this: neither are we diminished by what we do for Him and for others.

Truly, in fact, our candle is not diminished by lighting other candles! WOW! PTL!

Your responses to my stuff are greatly appreciated and eagerly anticipated. Those who don’t read the “responses” each week, miss some of the greatest blessings IMMHO! (g) Just use the “Leave a Reply” box below and tell me your experiences, reflections, and thoughts!

– But other people may not appreciate our size, shape, bends, and twists. Hopefully, those of us who squeal the loudest will not get the grease, but the grace we need to carry out – not fumes, but fun.

– Just thought you might like to know there’s at least one woman who loves those throaty car sounds out here!!!!! And can you guess which motorcycle I also love to hear? Blame it on hanging out with all the guys who raced – I loved the sound my Beretta made. Dual exhaust and big engine.

     Liked the article as well. All of us can relate to a little of that wrong twisting and bending.

– I really enjoyed the muffler letter. We need to LISTEN. I know that is hard for me to do. We can pray all the time, but sometimes we just need to listen. God does bend us and knead us, but we have to let Him do things in His time. We can’t tell Him how to do things. Your article is a good lesson for us all.

– Another good one. I am again in the bending process. This time, I’m trying to rely upon the Great Bender Himself to straighten out a horribly messed up pipe that is supervised by a son. I am trusting the Bender, Himself, to make the pipe straight and take out the kinks.

– Good piece! Though I appreciate Pat deeply, I very much prefer an engine with pipes that can be heard. The sound of a broken muffler will not do it. One needs the right equipment to get the right sound. There is no sound quite like that sound when an engine starts up and you just hear that rumbling. I completely agree with you.

     There must be lessons in that as well as in the bending of those pipes. Your analogy about the pipe bender, however, is an appropriate one. I pray that many will be struck by the analogy and will submit their lives to the Master Bender.

– Just got through reading through this week’s letter and I really enjoyed it. It brought back memories of when I was young and whenever we would get a new car, almost the first thing we would have done to the car was have new “Glasspack Mufflers” put on our car for that great sound. I loved it. The car had a low mellow sound. Actually, it was Mother who had to have that sound. It runs in the genes, I think. Your story brought back a lot of great memories and I really did enjoy your analogy along with it. God is never through with us. We are always being molded and crafted into what God wants us to be. For some of us, it just takes a little more bending and molding. But God is so good and so faithful and extremely patient. What would we all do without Him in our lives. I can’t imagine life without the Lord, I just don’t know how the world makes it without Him. I thank Him every day.

– My little blue English Ford was unique. No one else in my town had one, and that meant that parts were not available. So when the muffler gave out, the guys at Willie’s created a very special one–with a sound as unique as the car itself. You could hear me coming several blocks away. Being a girl, I have to say, I thought the sound was a bit embarrassing. But that little car got me where I wanted to go, so I appreciated it, muffler and all. Today, I’m thankful I have some way to identify with your love for noisy mufflers.

      You’re right about the special twists and turns of life evoking a “sound” from us. I’ve heard whiny “why me’s?” and vibrant “praise the Lord’s” from folks experiencing the same diseases. I guess the events test the metal that their “mufflers” are made of. We’re all being refined. The song we sing under pressure just tells us how far along we are in the process!!

– I have never been into those “glass packs” and other noisy muffler systems. Could be because I have enough trouble hearing without that distraction, but my older brother loved it.

     The message that popped into my mind was the scripture that teaches about the refiner’s fire. How God keeps heating us up and working on us until we are like refined silver or other precious metals.

– Neat analogy – but it’s really going to make me think! When we bend something, we undo its original form. Sometimes after bending, the object can spring right back to the original form or it can stay in the position in which it was bent. Sometimes, God “bends” us so that He can shape and mold us to His liking, but there are times when it is not to our liking. When it is not to our liking, that is usually when we spring back to the original position. We struggle against the bending, because either we are too comfortable with the shape we are in or the bending process is just too painful. When we allow Him to “bend” us to the shape that He wants, we help the bending process along. It doesn’t mean that it will be easy and that it won’t hurt, but we can rest assure that it will be of His liking. And, since He is the ultimate “Molder”, we should trust His twists and turns, and be assured that our shape will be to his specifications. Thanks for making me think!

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