Love is a candle that never burns out. Do you agree with this? I think it does but, in reality, there is no such candle. Every candle will burn out. It is only a matter of time.

Therefore, I think love does burn out. With a candle, it is not the candle itself that we need but the light it provides. Even so, without the candle, we cannot have the light that we need. Plus we definitely need something to light up the candle. 

So it is with love. It is not as simple as saying I love you. It has to be along with the act of love, the balance of giving and receiving, sincerity and trust. How can you say you love someone if all you did was scold, rampage, and control? Where is the little personal breathing space that each one of us needs in a while? Even a candle will be extinguished without oxygen. 

When asking for respect, it is respect that should be given first. So it goes for forgiving before asking for forgiveness, humility before gentleness, patience before the good conversation, and passion before the fruits of love.

The candle will not be able to provide light without the fire and the fire will not exist without being ignited. To be functional all of the items mentioned should co-exist with the candle. So is love. It cannot be a one-way direction. It needs both sides to work together, compromise, be accepting, and moderate. Too much will also cause the other side to suffocate and want to break free.

If we throw a candle into a big fire, It will melt and be left with the ashes. So is love if we take it for granted. Being married to someone does not mean we own a person. It does not mean that we can treat our partner as we like without consideration. Telling her not to lie while you are lying to her most of the time. That is unfair. Marriage should be equal, not one status is higher than the other. Respect will come along without being asked once both feel equal and satisfied. 

Marriage also does not mean that we will always have that person beside us forever no matter the mistakes we made. Forgiveness is always there but each of us have our limitation, just like a candle that can be burned into the ashes. If we look carefully in the ashes, we can still see the residual of the candle after it is hardned again. Love can always be safe. We just need to look carefully into it.