Dreams of Candy Coating

     Today is one of those days when I wish that I had been created with a hard candy coating like one of my favorite candies. Today I am emotionally drained.  Today, the heat of life is changing my physical appearance and I am losing my shape and my edges. I am left feeling like a soft puddle of chocolate that still has the same essence and taste but needs to be reshaped - by hand, if you please.  Today, I long for a hard candy shell that would protect my sweet insides from a child's hot little hand. Life, like this happy child, holds me in her pudgy, sweaty palm and while the color drains from my outside, there is still some protection for my malleable and soon-to-be-devoured insides. 

     That candy coating is sweet and though delicate, still tough enough to provide a source of protection for the sweet chocolate goodness on the inside. Sometimes, the candy coating will crack or chip, but the chocolate held inside still finds a place to hold its shape until the moment comes when it too, shall be devoured. Like the chocolate candy, I know that there are times when I will be devoured by the work of living a life of faith, love and hope.  That thin candy coating delays the inevitable if only for a brief moment. 


     I think that our friends and loved ones are well worth what we pour out for them and pour into them. I think that we are all called to invest deeply and carefully in each other's lives from time to time. We are called to be sweet to one another. We are called to love one another. We are called to comfort one another. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God and not in the image of chocolate encased in a thin candy coating.  I thought about working on ways to simultaneously give my heart and guard my heart but then I realized that the hard candy shell would defeat the purpose and process of unconditional love. It's easy to love those who are guaranteed to give back all that we give to them. One of the authentic marks of love is when it is freely given with no expectation of reciprocity. (I did express that it is one of the authentic marks, not the one that FEELS good all of the time!) So, I have decided to trust God with my naked heart. My heart which is and has been broken more often than I care to tell. My heart that beats in tandem with those who mourn and with those who rejoice. My heart which makes room for those who seem least likely to be lovable - against the advice of my brain, by the way! My heart...the soft chocolatey inside without the guardianship of a hard candy shell.

   Given the opportunity to think, reflect, and return to myself, I have found that I do not wish for a mere candy coating which is subject to crack, dissolve, and also be devoured. What I desire...no, what I will do is trust that I am indeed covered with more than a thin candy coating. I am covered, protected, guided, and loved by something much bigger than anything made by a candy company.  It is this covering that allows me to love freely and fully - even to the point of feeling drained...because there is a place of restoration and return on the love invested in others.

    How can I cover you today?? I will not cover you with a thin layer of sweet colorful candy. I will cover you in my heartfelt prayers and ask God to keep you covered...as the old folks would say - 'through dangers seen and unseen'!  For my friends who are going through a tough time right now and are longing for some kind of covering over your delicate heart...here is a song - and the guarantee of my prayers for you! The sing-er asks the pray-er to cover him...My response is to ask God to cover you!


Shalom -




"Remember to cover me / that i might go in peace 
Remember to keep me lifted / that i might go in spirit
Keep my name on your lips / When you pray remember this:
I need you to cover me"