The following post is from David White of Fostering Great Ideas. I love the sentiment in this piece, and wanted to share it with you. Please check out their web site for ideas of how to bring help and hope to those in the foster care community. (www.fgionline.org)
My favorite symbol is a lit candle. In our global tragedies, this symbol draws us together. At mass memorials, the flickering light represents common loss, unity, a desire for peace, and an undying hope that light always overcomes the darkness.
As we have entered this holiday season, many reflect on the religious symbol of the candle. For Christians, on the night of Christmas Eve, congregants in packed sanctuaries each light a candle as “Silent Night, Holy Night” is sung in unison. The sanctuary illuminates and the people stand in awe. For Jews, the candle was lit earlier this month, night after night, surrounded by family, eyes fixed at the beautiful menorah, as each person reflected on the meanings of longing, liberty, and faith.
For our children in foster care, let us each light a candle, symbolizing our unity to do better for them. Each child wants and deserves no less than an ending to their unrelenting loss, belonging to relieve their pain of uncertainty, and knowledge that we are working on their behalf, all of us with arms extended, candles bright, together lighting the way for the 415,000 children in our nation’s foster care system. Never letting our candles extinguish.
What can you do? Find another whose candle is bright, and ask to share in the work. This is a simple request and one we can all accomplish, as we begin the new year.
Blessings and peace during this beautiful season of hope.
David White
Chief Idea Officer,
Fostering Great Ideas
