I wonder. I believe we all want to be the heroine or hero of our own daring tale of adventure, discovery, love and fulfillment. Perhaps that’s why no matter how many people tell us that fables, legends and the like are poppycock, we still just can’t bear to bury them. True, we may let them lie dormant for a while, but they always find their way back into our minds and our hearts. We see a movie that triggers those childhood fantasies and fancies and we’re right back in that place of hope and dreaming. Or, we find ourselves in the company of children: son, daughter, niece, nephew, student, whomever, and we cannot resist regaling them with a romantic tale of adventure. I argue it’s because within these wild and imaginative scapes lie our greatest joys, longings and even an analogy of what it is we go through in the short span of our days. The endings, well, they are what it should be. The unaffected, perfect utopia and redemption that we long for and in which some of us believe.
Maybe you still haven’t found your one true love, your golden amulet, your lost ring or your purpose. I’m about to have a rather surprising birthday. I say surprising because I can scarcely believe the number; however, I mention it because I have yet to find my true love and I’m still in a great quest to fulfill the purpose before me. In fact, some days it’s hard for me to get my brain ‘round it. What an elusive and magical thing individual purpose can be.
Looking at my life I see a vast array of characters (some lovable others diabolical) and I'm convinced that I must existing within some well worn storybook. My artist’s soul cannot help but believe so. It is quite possible that I think in such fanciful ways because I am at my core an artist and a spirit. My soul yearns for expression and fulfillment that cannot be found through much of what I find myself doing day to day. I dream of being in an expansive and nearly ancient English manor house or Tuscan villa estate where I can connect with my ancestors and imagine great escapades. To spend my days writing, reading, painting, drawing, filming, acting, singing, performing, laughing, crying for joy. I suppose this is what we all want. Not to be lazy, but to really live. To experience the ecstasy for which we were made.
This is worship to me. To live, love, nurture, build, create, compose, encourage, protect, explore, give. These to me are that which make life worth living and which offer the greatest offering, living sacrifice and glory to our Creator.
So, my goal for my next birthday is that I get closer to this way of living. I hope you do, too.
