Tag Archives: inspire

Cotillion

Cotillion: (n) a formal ball given especially for debutantes.

A cotillion used to be subtitled “a coming out ball.”

Now that phrase would evoke great laughter—because “coming out” means something completely different from it did when we were funny wisdom on words that begin with a C
referring to the first time a sixteen-year-old girl was dressing up like a woman and spraying perfume in her hair.

Somewhere lodged between the fallacy that “everything in the past was better” and the hard sell of “everything now is superior” lies some sort of compromise.

Maybe if we approached the passage of time similarly to the way we eat food at a smorgasbord, we might just arrive at a blending of practices which would be satisfying and beneficial to our well-being. For after all, at a buffet you grab a plate and walk the line, take a little bit of half-a-dozen or more items, go sit down and discover what is pleasing to the palate.

This is exactly what I try to do with my human life.

I have no desire to live in the past, filled with disease, pestilence and prejudice. Yet I’m not particularly satisfied with being overwhelmed in the present, with forms of idiocy which have merely donned contemporary costumes.

I do like a little bit of the cotillion to go along with my Facebook and Instagram.

I like the idea of the transitions in life being honored with celebration and a touch of reverence instead of the crude way of thinking that a young girl becomes a woman by losing her virginity.

How can we balance the human heart, spirit and brain? The heart wants to be moved, the spirit wants to be inspired and the brain desires learning.

So I guess my goal is to feel my way along, looking for those things that inspire me, and then try to make them my own.


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Codicil

Codicil: (n) an addition or supplement that explains, modifies, or revokes a will or part of one.

It was probably a Saturday morning, and the young fellow was perched in his tiny office in the back of the sanctuary, wondering what in the hell he was gonna talk about the following morning during his sermon at the church.

Although he wanted to be a minister, he forgot how terrifying it could be, to try to come up with a twenty-one minute homily once a week which would both appease and inspire. (Unfortunately, those two words–“appease” and “inspire”–often tend to contradict each other.)

So imagine his glee when he came up with the thought that God’s love–which he had taught about many times–was unconditional.

How good that was going to make everybody feel! The classic warm-and-fuzzy and oh-so-cuddly. He certainly had enough Bible verses to back up his contention.

So when he shared it the following morning it became so popular that it spread across the town, the Internet and eventually became a phrase that evoked tears and deep-rooted reflection from everyone who uttered it: unconditional love.

Unfortunately, the young minister who began this tumbling dice of good feeling failed to remind his congregation that there are codicils.

If love is the will of God, then we must sit down like good attorneys and read over the “will” a bit more carefully to understand how it is executed.

Just as grace demands that we be gracious and mercy is obtained by being merciful, God’s love is possessed by expressing affection and concern for those we deem to be “the least.”

If we fail to do this–in other words, be gracious–He resists our pride.

No mercy? Well–no mercy.

And if our love is not extended to those whom we psychologically view as untouchable, then God is completely willing to view us as equally uninteresting.

If I were to sum up the Bible in one word, it would be “if:”

  • If you want love, give love.
  • If you want mercy, share mercy.
  • If you want grace, be gracious.
  • And if you want understanding, try to understand something that you pretend is completely unacceptable.

 

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Art

 Art: (n) the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.dictionary with letter A

Probably one of the more pretentious things a mere mortal can speak aloud is the proclamation: “I am an artist.”

Even though it is said more often than comfortability allows, it is a presumptuous thought. Why?

Well, first of all–art is in the eye of the beholder, not in the mind of the “presumer.” In other words, if someone wants to call me an artist, I can humbly deflect the praise, but blame them for the event.

Even though I have written, recorded, sung, performed and gyrated my talents in many different ways over the years, I daily realize that to create art requires three very distinct purposes, uniting as one:

1. Inspire.

It is my firm belief that art should inspire us. I know this will meet with some disagreement, but I do not think that movies, books and songs which are depressing, fatalistic and portray humanity as worthless are art. They are intriguing diversions for those who are looking for a reason to confirm their depression.

2. Entertaining.

Yes, I think art should make our minds dance with new ideas while either tickling our funny bone or massaging our heart. I will even say that I’ve been entertained by things that have aggravated my emotions.

3. And finally, I think art should make us hunger and thirst.

Preferably, for righteousness, but at least, an appetite should be developed for more than the bland diet that the status quo often offers in the great cafeteria line of life.

I do not want to become disheartened or faithless by peering into the disgruntled by-product of the souls who insist they are artists.

Life is too short to be pissed off … and it is certainly much too brief to spend all of your creative energy merely trying to piss off others.

 

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