Once upon a time a little candle stood in a room filled
with other candles, most of them much larger and much more
beautiful than she was. Some were ornate and some were
rather simple, like herself Some were white, some were
blue, some were pink, some were green. She had no idea
why she was there, and the other candles made her feel
rather small and insignificant.

When the sun went down and the room began to get dark, she
noticed a large man walking toward her with a ball of fire
on a stick. She suddenly realized that the man was going
to set her on fire.

"No, no!!" she cried, "Aaaaagghhh! Don't burn me, please!"
But she knew that she could not be heard and prepared for
the pain that would surely follow. To her surprise, the
room filled with light. She wondered where it came from
since the man had extinguished his fire stick, To her
delight, she realized that the light came from herself.

Then the man struck another fire stick and, one by one, lit
the other candles in the room. Each one gave out the same
light that she did.

During the next few hours, she noticed that, slowly, her
wax began to flow. She became aware that she would soon die.
With this realization came a sense of why she had been
created. "Perhaps my purpose on earth is to give out light
until I die," she mused. And that's exactly what she did.

Like the little candle, we have to die in order to produce
light. We can be light in a world filled with darkness. If
we try to preserve ourselves, our lives will be meaningless.
But if we are willing to lose our lives for Christ's sake
(Matthew 10:39), we will find our true purpose and meaning.

Author unknown