Light a Candle of Hope in the Darkness

1. Light a Candle of Hope in the Darkness Song - Phil Coulter - If Tomorrow Never Comes Click To Advance Slides and for Words

2. When we live without real Hope and Joy we sometimes convince ourselves that life will be better once we are married, have a baby … then another baby but… Then we get frustrated because our Children are not old enough and that all will be well when they are older… Then we are frustrated because they reach adolescence and we must deal with their problems. Surely we’ll be happier when they grow out of the teen years… We tell ourselves our life will be better when our Spouse gets his/her act together but forget about our own and think we will be happy when we have a nicer car… when we can take a vacation…when we finally retire… It can be other things that we choose to meet our needs instead of Marriage but without real Hope and Joy they will also disappoint and fail to meet our real needs.

3. The truth is that there is no better time for us to find real Hope and Joy than right now, they’re waiting for us… Our life is full of all kinds of challenges. It is better to admit as much and to decide to seek real values that have the right focus regardless of the ups and downs in our life.

4. It may seem that life is about to Start for us and everything is going fine we feel confident and we will achieve well… But then there is always some obstacle along the way, an ordeal to get through, some work to be started or finished, a bill to be paid, some hurt to overcome. Then life will really start… What we need is to finally realise and understand that obstacles are always part of life and they are there to help us find the real values and rejoice and be thankful in life.

5. So we need to be thankful for every moment knowing that even if we don’t understand how right now... good can come from everything that happens to us even the bad things. This Focus helps us see that there isn’t any road to real Joy without the Hope that comes from Faith and both are part of Love and when we have them… Joy is the road we will travel on.

6. We need to stop waiting for School to end or start, to lose or gain ten pounds, for work to begin, or to find our soul mate, to get Married or Divorced, for the Week - end, or waiting for a new car, or our mortgage to be paid off, for the start of the New Year, Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter… To receive our wages pension a Superannuation, legacy or our family inheritance, or for our song to be played on the radio, or sadly maybe we are deceived and are waiting to die so we can be reincarnated and be reborn through the flesh into a higher order…

7. Plan for the future with the Hope and Faith that comes from God’s Eternal Love. We need to decide to live in Joy now by finding out what real Faith, Joy, Hope and Peace are. Joy unlike a voyage has a start but no end… and there is no better time to be Joyful than… Now! So Live and rejoice in the moment, it is a Gift…

8. Someone once said “Hope is the denial of reality, but Hope is always based in reality, although its reality is only seen by those who have Faith... Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible"

9. Now, think and try to answer these questions… 1 – Name the 5 self made richest people in the world. 2 – Name the last 5 Miss Universe winners. 3 – Name the last 10 Nobel Prize winners. 4 – Name the last 10 winners of the Best Actor Oscar.

10. Can’t do it? Rather difficult, isn’t it? Don’t worry, not too many people remember them… It has been said … Applause dies away! Trophies gather dust! Winners are soon forgotten… But for those who Love them, this is not so, they never forget when their Loved ones achieve they have heartfelt thanks, and when their success is based on real eternal values others remember and are thankful too.

11. Take time to think and answer these questions… 1 – Name 3 teachers who contributed to your education. 2 – Name 3 friends who helped you in your hour of need 3 – Think of a few people who made you feel special. 4 – Name 5 people that you like to spend time with.

12. When we think about it… Life is very short on this earth but it’s good to take the time to consider what the important things are. So, in which list are you? Don’t know? May I help you... You are not among the most “famous right now” but among those whom I value as a friend and I know without a doubt you’re Special, unique and one of a kind and because God Loves you so do I …

13. Some time ago, at the Seattle Olympics, nine athletes, all mentally or physically challenged, were standing on the starting line for the 100 m race… The gun fired and the race began. Not everyone was running, but everyone wanted to participate andwin. They ran in threes, a boy tripped and fell, did a few somersaults and started crying. The other eight heard him crying. They slowed down and looked behind them. They stopped and came back… All of them… A girl with Down Syndrome sat down next to him, hugged him and asked, “Feeling better now? ”Then, all nine walked shoulder to shoulder to the finish line. The whole crowd stood up and applauded. The applause lasted a very long time… People who witnessed this still talk about it.Why?

14. Because deep down inside us, we all know that one of the most important things in life is much more than winning for ourselves. One of the most important things in this life is to help others to find the Truth and the real values in life. Even if that means slowing down and changing our own race. If we take the time to share with others those things that are True, uplifting and encouraging and even if at times we need to warn them of danger or correct them in Love we will have contributed to lighting a Candle of Hope in their heart that will one day burn brightly…

15. And a Candle loses nothing if it is used to light another one.” So we light someone else's candle and our flame will also burn brightly.