The Redeemed Candle
Lentale
Themes: pride, ashes, redemption, Baptism, humility, light
A candle accidentally burns down its master’s mansion and ultimately finds a life-giving, unearned love.
Image by Madison (age 8)
A candle worked hard everyday for its master.
The master worked late into every evening checking his accounts by adding up long columns of numbers. The tall, straight candle was right there by his side every night steadying its flame so that the master could see all the small numbers.
The candle did great work, but it was too proud of what it did.
“I help the master far into the night, while you only stir his tea in the morning,” the candle said to the spoon.
“I help the master count his money, while you only catch the crumbs of his bread,” the candle said to the saucer.
One night, the master strained his eyes as he worked with some really small numbers on his parchment. The candle focused intensely and made its flame especially tall and bright. But the tip of the tall flame caught the edge of the master’s cheek. The master turned away in pain and then turned back to the candle, picked it up, and angrily threw it upon the floor before rushing out of the room. Unfortunately, that room was filled with papers and the mansion was made of wood.
The next morning, a little girl was making her way to school when she spotted the master looking at the remains of the burned-down mansion. Something caught her eye amidst all the ashes spread far and wide. She carefully stepped into the ruins and flicked the ashes away. A bent-over, disfigured candle revealed itself.
“The perfect thing to do my homework by,” she exclaimed as she stuffed it into her ragged school bag.
That evening, the little girl used her dinner knife to dig out the wick from the dried wax. She set it up on her wobbly desk and tried to light the bent-over candle. It lit for just a moment. It cried wax tears from its sadness, before the downward-bending wick would snuff itself out. It was so sad that it had hurt the master’s cheek and made him angry.
The little girl was very patient with the candle. She placed it in a pan of water heating up on the stove. With her small hands, she washed away the remaining ashes and then gently reformed the softened, warm wax of the bent candle. Soon, it became a straight candle once again. To the candle, it was like a Baptism. It was the beginning of a new life.
The little girl tenderly dried the candle and set it back upon her desk. She then relit it and the now straight candle burned steadily once again. The candle was so grateful to the young school girl. It stood straight once again and cast its light just right so she could do her homework each night.
The days passed and the candle grew shorter and shorter. It loved the little girl and skillfully directed its light to help her.
“You record her thoughts and I help her see,” the candle said to her pencil.
“You wipe up her spills while I help her learn,” the candle said to her napkin.
Finally, the candle was little more than a tiny snub of wax on the desk. Just before it went out for the last time, it felt so warm and grateful that it had spent the better part of its life shining its light to help this wonderful young girl do what she needed to do—her daily homework.