The little light that keeps burning

I have had an amazing thing happen. You may know that I lost my daughter several months ago. It has made my heart filled with sorrow and loss for what can never be. The loss was compounded with the recent two-year anniversary of the loss of my mom. Her last message to me was that she wanted me to go on smiling in the words of one of her favorite songs that she sang to me as a child. The words she especially liked were, “When you are smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” She loved that song, and she told me those words often.

On the two-year anniversary of my mom’s passing away, I lit in my home a tiny battery-operated teacup candle and said a little prayer for her. The candle should have burned less than 24 hours and then gone out. The most amazing thing is that I am writing this to you on the ninth day after lighting this little candle, and it is still flickering light. There is no logical explanation for this. I have lit many of these little battery operated candles, and they always go out within approximately twelve hours. At the end of the first day, I was amazed that it was still lit. By the second day I was telling my friends that something unusual was happening. By the end of one week, I was even more amazed, and now, I am choosing to see this as a message from my mom, to live, to laugh, and more than anything, to smile. So I am sharing this little candle story with you today so that you too remember to find your smile and your joy. This little candle with its flickering light is a message of hope.

Have a great day and keep smiling.

Maryln