By Dr. Joyce of The Caring Heart Spokane, WA
“No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or
putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which
enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be
made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come
abroad.” (Luke 8: 16-17).
I had a marvelous experience not long ago – so common, so ordinary, and yet
so impressive and unforgettable. I entered a picture framing shop to
pick up a large, framed collage of my horses. I told the shopkeeper
that my one pictured horse had passed on now. He responded by telling
me about his dog, and how very devastated he will be when that dog passes
on. Our conversation continued, and he insisted upon carrying the
collage out to my truck. How remarkable!! In just a few moments
of time, he and I had entered into a meaningful dialogue in which eye
contact was there, smiles were reciprocated, and sharing of our deeper
selves was carried on in trust, and not hidden in fear. The atmosphere
had immediately taken on a warm glow, which seemed to transform the whole
room. The atmosphere was filled with kindness, caring, love, security,
friendliness, and light. That shopkeeper’s candle was set on a candlestick,
and I could benefit from its glow, and enter into an encounter in which we
got to know each other in a very real way, even though brief. So
relaxed and fulfilling. It was impossible not to really like him!
Dismally, I have had many other social experiences which seemed more like
barren deserts, and I’ll bet you have had those kind, too. What a
drag! Eye contact absent or as brief as possible. Greetings
absent or brief also, with flat expressiveness. Frozen faces hide
whatever thoughts and feelings may be going on inside. These people
act like they don’t want you to know them at all, and they surely don’t want
to know you!! The main goal in these cases seems to be dread avoidance
of any meaningful interpersonal encounters. No light. No warmth.
The real reasons why such people are so avoidant are left to one’s
imagination.
Unfortunately, the latter scenario is all too prevalent in today’s world.
Such social deserts seem to be saying that being distant and uncommunicative
is OK, and just fine. But that is not OK. It is insensitive and
mean, and promotes meanness in many other areas of life, such as family
life, friendship life, work life, and animal life. Social deserts are
part of the darkness, affecting so much. Seems to me that Satan loves
that kind of thing!! Sensitive people want to run away!
For everyone’s sake (humans and animals and God’s Kingdom on earth), we need
to be people who keep our candles on their candlesticks, not keeping “who we
are” hidden, because we don’t have anything to hide anyway. We need to
exude warmth, openness, and friendliness in all social scenes we go into,
which will move those atmospheres toward happiness, joy, warmth and love.
In atmospheres of light, meanness towards humans or animals does not occur
because it JUST DOESN’T FIT, any more than meanness would fit in God’s
Heaven. I don’t think we commonly realize how crucial keeping our
candles on their candlesticks is to changing our world for the better.
We are ALL needed to be open and expressive, and to acknowledge humans’ and
animals’ identities and presences.
Dr. Joyce The Caring Heart Copyright 2012