A Candle of a Marriage

This past weekend my husband and I were praying for another couple and their marriage. We were using a candle as a reminder to pray for them. (There's a lot of back story to that, but I can't explain it all.)
The candle we were using was one of those that's poured into a tall glass container. This works really well to keep your house safe from the flame even when you're not immediately present and watching the flame, but it sure is hard to keep those darn things lit! I think they use the cheapest wax and wicks when they make those candles.
But the cheapness of the candle isn't the point of this blog. That candle as a metaphor for marriage is the point.
That candle was a royal pain to keep lit! It would burn brightly for a while then sputter and spit, sometimes flaming up again but it was more likely to sputter out. If I was right at hand, paying attention when that happened, I could pour out some wax and clean it up a bit and it was still pretty easy to relight. But if I was off somewhere doing something else and not watching that candle for too long (not a good idea), the wax would harden. Then it was a lot harder to get the candle cleaned and relit. I also had to make sure I uncovered enough wick to catch and burn but not so much wick that it burned too brightly and melted too much wax at once, drowning the flame.
Hopefully you've seen the metaphor in the above paragraph. Our marriages will sometimes burn brightly, sometimes sputter and spit. Sometimes the passion will die out completely. But there's still a lot of candle left. With a little judicious care you can get the candle of your marriage burning brightly again. That's going to be a whole lot easier if you're actually paying attention to your marriage and see when the flame sputters out. Clean it up while the wax is still soft and you won't have to work quite so hard.
As newlyweds we usually doubt those 'naysayers' who tell us that marriage is hard work. We're deeply in love and we expect our relationship to go on forever like that. It won't, but if you pay attention to it and carefully work on it, you will still have a flame burning, even after seventy years!