I'm getting into the groove again with the 30 Day Non-Facebook Prose-Instead-of-Pictures Challenge. Today's challenge:
16.A picture of someone who inspires you
Taking the easy way out isn't for me. The answer won't be Jesus, or Mother Teresa, or Gandhi. Those are all inspiring people. But too easy. To make it more difficult for myself, I remembered a sermon from several years ago about Pentecost.
What does Pentecost have to do with inspiration? "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them" -- Acts 2:4. Spirit. Inspire. They both come from the root Greek spīrāre, to breathe. Inspīrāre, to breathe upon or into. So what breathes into me? Who makes me alive?
There are very few people who truly inspire me. Suzanne Farrell, the ballerina, for her endless love of dance to the point of destroying her hips and knees only to have them replaced with metal, for showing me that there can still be the love and desire of something so beautiful but dangerous even well into one's sixties. John Muir, the naturalist, for his devotion to nature, for teaching me that the land can be loved, and cared for, now so that future generations will be able to love it as we do. Julia Child, the early television foodie, for introducing me to roast chicken which can still be saved even when dropped on the floor in front of millions of viewers. And a friend who will remain nameless, for utterly breathing the spirit of creativity into my mind and creating new ideas and ways to view things, for making me look at myself as someone still growing, never accepting that this is all there is.
Having a friend with no name push me to push myself, to be myself, to be more than myself. That is true inspiration. The breath of life that creates new life within me.
[Title taken from this.]
Sunday
3 weeks ago
Sounds like you know how to surround yourself with good folk, Mrs. G. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. Frankie says she'd be glad to give you a few pointers in swinging a skillet. My e-mail address can be found on my profile page. We'd love to meet up when you come down this way!
ReplyDeletehi girl...no real punctuation here. save that for rare occassions until i can use both hands for typing again. i'll get the cast off maybe this friday and then i kow i will need therapy to regain proper usage of my right hand and wrist. my knees are much better but there isstill some swelling. it's very humbling to be so helpless.
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