Last Sunday I had bunches of running to do – our oldest son is participating in Quiz Team for AWANA at the “Truth & Training” level (yes, it’s a big deal for our local club, since our jr. high and high school teams placed in nationals – and at any level, it’s invite only, since you have to have reached a certain point in your studies for the year.) Anyway, he’s been loving it, but momma is ready for a little break from the running for the extra team practices.
Uh. Where was I? Oh, yeah. In all of that running, I usually have spots of downtime, which I tend to either fill with reading of books, blogs, or running errands for the business. Today I happened to grab the book The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket off of my shelf at home. It’s sat there for a while. I’ll admit. I picked it up because of all of the pretty photos. Flipped through it a bit, but hadn’t actually sat down to read any of it.
The photo above is from the opening pages. I read those words and sat in a moment of gratitude, thinking this is someone who understands. That’s what it’s really about. In a nutshell.
The chapter is titled, “A habit of seeing” and Jane writes:
“I used to assume inspiration was the province of artists and poets, architects and designers, scientists and inventors. Inspiration could surely visit only those with higher purpose in life, with greater sensitivity than the rest of us, with a more refined awareness than the average mortal.
I was wrong. Inspiration is inspiration, whether the end result is a painted masterpiece, a soul-searching sonnet, a richly colored homemade quilt or a batch of freshly baked scones. We shouldn’t diminish our creativity by despising the results of our inspiration, but instread celebrate and exploit the wonderful feeling of elevated energy and enthusiasm we experience when we feel inspired. THat quickening of the senses and the heightening of the imagination are, I’m sure, just the same for the Matisses and Wrens and Brownings as they are for the rest of us.It’s just that they can do different things with their inspired talents.
Inspiration is the opposite of expiration, a drawing in, as opposed to letting out. We can walk through life without seeing, without taking in the details, the words, the colors, the pictures, and miss the whole point of inspiration. Or, we can adopt an approach that allows us to stop a while and look and listen and reflect and enjoy. We can learn to sift through the mass of stimuli we encounter every day and to focus on the inspires us as individuals and in doing so, create a way of seeing, a way of being receptive to inspiration.”
I love it. I’m challenging myself to be receptive to inspiration.
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