Fireworks or a Candle?

Do you ever have those moments where you wish you had different skills or talents?  Maybe you wish you could play basketball like Lebron James or sing like Alicia Keys or dance like...some dancer (I don't really know any dancers).

Lately, I have had thoughts like these.  I read books by amazing authors like Francis Chan and wish that I could take deep theological topics and make them easy to understand like he does.  Or, I hear someone like Matt Chandler give a sermon and wish that I could preach like that.  While it's not bad to have goals and to stretch ourselves in order to get better, it certainly can be bad to strive to be someone else.  Everyone is gifted differently and it is God's desire for us to use the gifts that He has given to each of us for His glory rather than wish we had someone else's gifting.

I was reminded of this today as I read an excerpt from a book called Mondays with My Old Pastor by Jose Luis Navajo while reading the newest edition of Leadership Journal.  In this book, Jose recounts a story from one of the conversations he had with his pastor where his pastor essentially asks the question above, Fireworks or a Candle?

If you have ever been to a good firework show or neighborhood 4th of July party, you have probably been awed by the wonder and beauty of fireworks.  But, have you ever gotten up on the 5th of July (or some other day after a firework show) and seen the mess left behind?  Scraps, charred cardboard, burn marks, etc.  "Fifteen minutes of glory and then burned cardboard."  This is a little like many of those people who awe and amaze us, many of the people that we want to emulate, but for one reason or another, they quickly fade into memory.  Some are just no longer able to "perform", some just become unpopular, worse yet, some "blacken with soot" due to some moral failure.

Too often our desire is to be like these spectacular people who awe and amaze, when really we should desire to be more like a candle.  A candle doesn't typically awe or amaze anyone but it does provide light in the darkness.  A candle burns steady for a long period not just for an amazing few minutes.  A candle may not be seen by thousands but it's long, steady burn can have a much longer lasting impact on the few that were touched by it's light.

"Don't focus on what astonishes, but rather what transforms.  Don't let yourself be impressed by fireworks that amaze people for 15 minutes and then leave them tarnished.  Look for something deeper.  Don't make your goal to amaze your audience.  Don't rest until you are sure that your ministry crosses the frontier of the soul and touches the spirit, the place where change is accomplished."