Did you ever wonder why things from the earth grow UP?  Plants and trees, flowers, hills, mountains grow UP.  We build from the ground up, not from the mountain top down.  We put bulbs in the ground and they spring UP!  We dig foundations for our homes, then build upon the earth UPward...always UPward.

The expressions we use:  "Cheer Up!", "Liven Up!", "Open Up!", "Onward and Upward!"; why is this?  When we feel good we often hear the expression, "I'm having such an UP day!".  When we see a friend who seems blue, we ask, "Why so low?".

Throughout history we've been taught that heaven is up and hell is down.  Up is good.  Down is bad.

Let's return to the flame.  Once it's lit, its fire provides numerous things:  heat, light, a warm glow.  Next time you light a candle, take some time and stare at its flame.  Notice its appearance and characteristics.  Look at its foundation floating above the wax, the way it holds to its wick, the fact that it's wider at the bottom, brighter in the center and it's ever reaching, pointing, grasping UPward.  Always upward.

Now imagine that this flame resides within your own heart.  Truly think about it a moment.  Close your eyes and really feel your heart inside your body.  Focus your energy inward until you find that flame.  It's there isn't it?  I believe that flame to be where love lives within each of us.  It's that part  which God placed inside us even before we were born.  He took our "wicks" and lit them from His own eternal flame and then lovingly blew us to our earthly homes.

We survive our hurts.  We live beyond our heartaches because each of us carries that part of God that is the flame of love.  Yes, it does waver.  At times in our lives the breezes come and cause our flames to flicker.  We feel lost.  We feel scared.  We even feel alone.  We have health problems, we lose loved ones, we suffer depression, grief and anguish.  But through all of this, our flame remains lit.  It doesn't go out.  It may dwindle and at times even seem cold, but as long as we breathe (a flame needs oxygen to burn, yes?), it is there.  It cannot be extinguished.

Those of us, which is all of us, who have lived and survived heartache know this to be true.  Have you ever had your heart broken, dwindled for a time, and eventually come back to life to live and love again?  It's because God is within us - our flames are never extinguished - therefore, we CAN overcome virtually anything this earthly world throws at us.

Ever wonder why we use eternal flames to remember and honor our heroes?  Why do we call the loves of our lives our "flames"?

It's because we are each a part of God's flame and as such our own flames will burn eternally.  Our flames equal love and ARE love incarnate.  Our very existence symbolizes the love God has for us.

Return once again to the single flame flickering in the night and think about it.  Why DOES it grow and burn UPward?  Why does it take more than a single breath to blow out?

The very fact that you breathe is symbolic of God's love for you.  The trials you may be facing in this life are those "breezes" which cause your flame to flicker and become low.  Be still for a time and remember God's love for you and know that soon enough the love within you, your very own part of the light which IS God, will burn brightly again.  For your flame was lit by God's own hand, that which IS love;  The "fire" burning brightly upward which resides in all of us.

He loves you.  I love you.  We are all part of one another and we have scores of upward experiences to come!

Upward = growth.  Upward = God.

~Just some thoughts from me to you!!

Alexis :-)