Be the Flame and Allow Your Soul to Shine!

"Be the flame, not the moth."

Heath Ledger, Casanova

In the 2005 film Casanova, the infamous 18th Century ladies man (Heath Ledger) befriends Giovanni Bruni (Charlie Cox) by offering him a bit of advice concerning women. First, he tells Bruni to stop moping around women. After all, misery isn't very attractive. Then he says "If you want to be loved, you have to be worth loving... Be the flame, not the moth."

There is some excellent relational wisdom in Casanova's advice. First, if we want to be loved, we have to believe we are lovable. We need to do a good job of loving ourselves. This requires letting go of any "poor me, I'm not worthy" moth-like attitude we may find comfortable. Moping about not being good enough isn't attractive to anyone.

No one finds the love of their life through misery and moping. Misery begets misery-- and maybe a few flies! Sometimes we mistakenly confuse looking pitiful with looking cute. If this is the case, we need to swallow a few reality pills. There's nothing cute about looking pitiful, unless you're a puppy. Victims look pitiful, and victims attract other victims. 

Like many moping people, moths seem to be purposeless-- and annoying. They're always flitting around when we least want to be bothered and they are very clingy. They are colorless, unlike their distant relative the butterfly. At least butterflies live life by engaging the beauty of flowers. It seems moths do nothing more than cling to walls, or our clothes.

No one has to be a moth. Once we choose to stop moping, we can undergo a brilliant transformation: We can choose to become the flame, and leave our mothiness behind. A flame is vibrant with life. It roars and crackles with brilliance as it blazes a path of light through all forms of darkness. A flame dances in the wind. It provides warmth and comfort, and it attracts people. A flame runs after life while a moth flutters away in fear of life.

Moths mope miserably; flames trail-blaze joyfully. So, which would you rather be? It seems to me that the answer is easy. Changing ourselves may be difficult, but the rewards will be immeasurable. We can begin right now, knowing we never have to face change by ourselves. God is waiting to help us. All we have to do is ask. And there are people in our lives who will gladly help us too, if we just allow them.

Today, let's choose to cast-off our boring, colorless wings and burn a new trail of life-uplifting excitement for all the world to see. Let's be the flame, not the moth, and let's allow our souls to shine!