REFLECTIONS

A Candy Maker's Message

Author Unknown

I don’t know if you have ever seen a candy cane but it is a white with red striped candy, in the shape of a hook, given out at Christmas. Here are some interesting facts about it that I thought were interesting.

A candy maker in the state of Indiana in the USA wanted to make a candy that would represent God's Message to us, so he made the Christmas candy cane. In that simple shape, he incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.

He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy--white to symbolize the virgin birth and the sinless nature of Jesus; and hard to symbolize the solid rock of faith and the firmness of the promises of God.

The candy maker made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the precious Name of Jesus, Who came to Earth as our Savior. It could also represent the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs.

Thinking that the candy looked somewhat plain, the candy maker stained it with four red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received, by which we are healed. The single large red stripe was for the blood shed by Him on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.

The candy became known as the candy cane--a familiar decoration seen at Christmas time, though few understand its intended symbolism. For us it can serve as a reminder of the wonder of Jesus coming down at Christmas and His great Love that remains the ultimate and dominant positive force in the universe today.