The Flame That Holds Its Ground

In the monastery chapel at three in the morning, a single candle burns. The wind pushes through cracks in the old stone walls, and the flame bends, shudders, almost surrenders. But it does not go out. It leans into the dark and keeps burning. This is the courage Joshua 1:9 speaks of — not the courage of armies marching forward, but the courage of remaining present when everything in you wants to flee.…