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Inspiration and Quotables (3/31 Fun Monday Challenge)

As opposed to my typical indecision and in stark contrast to my last venture as Fun Monday hostess, I knew what I wanted to offer as a theme for next week's posting:

Quotable quotes and words that inspire.

Perhaps it's due to the current series simmering in the ol' PENSIEVE...maybe it's because I'm inspired by the words of those much wiser than me...or I wonder if it's because I believe in the POWER of words (in keeping with my "image-bearer of God status", who also must believe in the power of words since He SPOKE the world into existence and inspired men to record His thoughts...). 

Regardless of what motivated me to choose this for a theme, next week please share words that inspire and motivate you--brief or bloviatory, silly or serious, from great world leaders to last night's Comedy Central...from a Hallmark greeting card to your favorite book.  Choose one, choose many; let the quotes stand on their own or tell where you first read or heard them and how they affected you.  There's a lot of leeway with how this topic can be handled.

Never participated in a Fun Monday carnival before?  You're invited to join in this week (be sure to let me know you're a first-timer and I'll make note in the listing).  Be sure to let me know by leaving a comment that you'd like to participate--thanks to those few brave souls who signed up even before they knew what I had in mind:

Janet, From the Planet of Janet
Swampwitch, Anecdotes, Antidotes & Anodes
Lisa, Lisa's Chaos
Jo, This is Jo Beaufoix...
Patience, Patience-Please

HT to despair.com for the poster :)

Schoolhouse Rock Meets Fun Monday (or "Life's Little Instructions for Parents")

The teacher in my friend, Swampy, reared its convoluted pretty head for this week's Fun Monday challenge...the operative word here being "challenge".  Read the details here, but in essence she asked participants to "choose a topic/theme and make an alphabetical list of words, phrases, photos...however you want to share your topic/theme."

Since parenting isn't for cowards, I thought it'd be fun to see if I could come up with 26 snippets of advice for new and not-so-new parents.  While this list is hardly conclusive, I know you have sage wisdom to add--be sure to chime in in comments!

A, B, C's of Parenting

Affirm your children's strengths.
Believe in their potential.
Create boundaries.
Discover dreams with them not for them.
Encourage them often.
Forgive freely.
Give them room to fail.
Hug at least once a day.
Ignore childish acts, discipline the foolish (make sure to learn the difference).
Jealously guard family time.
Kindness is something you should model for them.
Love openly, laugh often, listen** attentively (not just with your ears but also with your eyes).
Manners are a must!
Never compare siblings to each other.
Offer prayers for them & give them opportunity to pray with you.
Play games with them.
Quantity time IS quality time.
Remember you're raising them for someone else, not yourself.
Savor each season!
Teach, train and touch them, lovingly and often.
Understand they will disappoint you on occasion...they aren't perfect.
Verbalize your love and gratitude.
Welcome their friends in your home.
Xylophones are a gift that keeps on "giving"...if you choose to get one for your toddler you've been duly warned....
Yell only when necessary, but realize sometimes it IS necessary!
Zaniness goes a loooong way towards keeping your kids off balance (and your home fun); as your children get older, you will need to use all the creative means at your disposal to gain an advantage!

Visit Swampy for this week's complete Fun Monday participant listing; and be sure to check back HERE at Robin's PENSIEVE on Tuesday for next week's challenge...hopefully it'll be a good one 'cause by that time I'm gonna be another year older...and maybe even wiser ;).

** Thanks for reminding me to add that Kelly!

Photo credit:  allposters.com

King of Kings

Hearing the beauty of Sandy Patti's Via Dolorosa juxtaposed to the brutality of these images from The Passion leaves me in awe...humbled...grateful...but mostly speechless...

One of the most stunning and magnificent thoughts about the Christian faith is that it's not about God's defeat at the cross; it's about Christ's defeat of death on the cross... willingly bearing in one body the weight of all humanity's past and future sin...for me and for you...a sacrifice of incomprehensible physical, emotional and spiritual pain.

Again...speechless....

I felt just like Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman..." (conclusion)

Part One, click here

"It was a rare, exquisite moment when a gifted man shared his passion...speaking in a voice that transcended uncommon language, a voice that speaks with the heart and the soul, a voice I wish I recognized more often."

After listening to the CD a few times, I decided to google the lyrics of several songs.  What I discovered was Paul communicated musically what I felt instinctively, later to be confirmed lyrically.  There is a richness, a depth, something soul-satisfying in his voice.  Even without ever having heard the majority of songs on his album, I k n e w they were about the things that resonate most with the human spirit--love, longing, desire, hope (If you're interested, skim some of the excerpts below from some of my favorites).

Isn't it amazing that a stranger, a former cell phone salesman for goodness sakes, has reached into my life, touched my heart and acted as an agent of change?!  It blows my mind!

I suppose opera snobs purists might turn up their noses and raise their highbrows at Paul's song selection; only a few are from actual operas (i.e., "Everybody Hurts" was written and recorded by R.E.M.!).  The rest are popera (operatic pop), where an artist sings pop songs in an operatic style.  Think Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban (at times), Sarah Brightman, Charlotte Church....  Interesting, none of these talented performers ever received more than a passing glimpse, a fleeting listen, from me.

But Paul Potts unassumingly, unknowingly and unforgettably barreled me over!  Why him and none of the others? 

I'll tell you what I think. 

His story.   (If you haven't yet seen his audition video, you might want to click this).

It wasn't only the music, his unexpected Cinderella tale drew me in.  Oh, how I love the story of "Underdog Wins"...it just feels good, just, applaudable.  Perhaps greatest testimony to his personal triumph, he's (probably) won legions of fans just like me; those who've never given opera a chance are now listening.  Hopefully, it won't just end with him.  I'd like to venture into true opera, a genre that has otherwise proved intimidating and out of reach.   

Which leads me to end with a few questions:  If you're a fan of the opera, what is your favorite opera?  Why?  Who are your favorite performers?    

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lyrical excerpts from Paul Potts CD, One Chance:

"Let no one sleep! Let no one sleep!/Yes, even you, my Princess/Alone in your lonely bedroom/Beneath the starlight/That fills your heart with hope and…/And dreams of passion/My burning secret lies within me/Known but to me and me alone/No, no, only the dawn will break this spell/When with my kiss I give my name/Only my lips can end this deadly silence/That lies between us..."  (Nessun Dorma)

"When I'm alone/I dream on the horizon/And words fail;/Yes, I know there is no light/In a room/Where the sun is not there/If you are not with me./At the windows/Show everyone my heart/Which you set alight;/Enclose within me/The light you/Encountered on the street./Time to say goodbye..."  (Con Te Partiro)

"A man embraces a girl/after the tears,/then clears his throat/and continues the song:/I love you very much,/very, very much, you know;/it is a chain by now that heats the blood inside the veins, you know…"  (Caruso)

"When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,/When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on/Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes/"Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it's time to sing along/When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)/If you feel like letting go, (hold on)/When you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on/'Cause everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends/Everybody hurts..."  ("Everybody Hurts"--"Ognuno Soffre")

"He was beautiful,/Beautiful to my eyes./From the moment I saw him,/The sun filled the sky./He was so so beautiful,/Beautiful just to hold./In my dreams he was spring time/Winter was cold./How could I tell him/What I so clearly could see/Though I longed for him/I never trusted me completely/So I never could be free./Oh, but it was beautiful/Knowing now that he cared/I will always remember/Moments that we shared/Now it's all over/Still the feelings linger on/For my dream keeps returning/Now that he's gone./For it was beautiful, beautiful,/Beautiful to be loved."  ("Cavatina")

"In my fantasy I see a just world,/Where everyone lives in peace and in honesty./I dream of spirits that are always free,/Like the clouds that fly,/Full of humanity in the depths of the spirit....."  (Nella Fantasia)

If this ain't carpe diem-ing, I don't know what is!

So, what have you done today?

* For those of you with 15-year-olds in the house, you may check this "done" every time you hand over the keys and ride as The Passenger.  I'm relatively certain I will never have to blow my nose again  'cause the snot's been scared out of me enough to last a lifetime!

Inspired by a GOOSE?!

Go figure.

Last week, I loved the photo of icicles dangling from a roof, but I struggled to put two words together for Laura's weekly 15-words-or-less poetic challenge; this week, the picture does nothing for me (sorry if that offends you Canada geese lovers in the crowd) and yet I like the poems it inspired. 

(This is one of the instances my husband would say I'm a "complicated woman"; make note, that is NOT the same thing as high maintenance!)

Clichéd Advice

Stick out your neck,
Spread your wings,
Reach for stars
Seek moments, not things.

Discovery

When imaginations soar
And dreams are chased,
Only then is life fully lived. 

If you'd like to submit your own poems--and hey, with a 15-word limit, it's easily doable--please visit Laura for details.

Today's Wordless Wednesday: Pink Sunshine

With Gerbera daisies emanating warmth and welcome,
Spring must be just around the corner--
they're a dazzling chromatic smile on a stem!
{And they couldn't have have arrived at a better time :) }

Visit Wordless Wednesday to see & share more wordless photographs.
wordless wednesday

You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours

Have you seen this popping up all over the b-sphere?  Even if you've taken the survey elsewhere, even if you're not a blogger, even if you ARE a blogger, would you please take a few minutes now, click the graphic and answer a few questions? 

If you click it from PENSIEVE, and email your snail mail to me, I'll be happy to send you a few Stampin' Up notecards, a samplin' of Noni's Homemade Buttermints, or a Mary Engelbreit prize pack as a little surcie for your time.  Tell others by posting it on your blog and I'll send you two of the three prizes. 

It's the honor system folks, I believe in you!  Thanks!!

I felt just like Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman..."

...not in the scene from her Rodeo Drive shopping spree, nor the replacing of the divots on the polo field, and especially not when she was "counseling" with "88 inches of therapy"...

It was during her character Vivian's first exposure to opera. 

I wasn't wearing a Eugene Alexander red designer gown or a $250,000 ruby and diamond necklace; if I'm not mistaken, I was wearing a pair of low-rise jeans, a black tee, $30 Lucky Brand earrings, barefoot. My surroundings weren't the posh San Francisco Opera house, either. 

Off the corner of my bedroom is a 10'x10' room, the walls of which are painted lime green; perhaps originally it was designed to be a closet or small study.  The ceiling is vaulted but slanted and there's a floor-to-ceiling window facing east.  During the day, it invites the sun into the room; at night, the moon and stars receive the same invitation, but they choose to remain at a safer distance. 

While it often becomes a staging area for Things That Need To Be Taken To Goodwill, this is my creative corner, the place where my daughter and I stamp hand-made notecards.  On this particular afternoon, however, I was working on an album from our 20th anniversary trip.  Sitting on the floor in the eye of an intimidating 300-picture storm, I decided to play the new Paul Potts "One Chance" CD I had gotten the day before.  The familiar first track is "Nessun Dorma", the song he sang during his first Britian's Got Talent performance, the song where I became smitten with this humble man.  The second song began, "Con Te Partiro" ("Time to Say Goodbye"), and I slowed my work to listen more carefully.  It's sung in Italian, so I couldn't understand the language, but that didn't seem to matter; I was hearing on another plane.  "Amapola" is the third song, and by this point, I realized something was stirring deep within...this music was resonating in my soul.  When "Everybody Hurts" ("Ognuno Soffre") began playing, I just stopped.  I stopped what I was doing to fully engage the song, or rather, allow it to engage me.

It was a surreal moment...I-do-NOT-care-for-opera!  I've always glazed over when I've heard pieces in the past.  But not this day.  It was a rare, exquisite moment when a gifted man shared his passion with me, speaking in a voice that transcended uncommon language, a voice that speaks with the heart and the soul, a voice I wish I recognized more often.

Sitting there alone in my room, I was moved nearly to tears, both bewildering and incomprehensible to me!  It was then I remembered that scene in "Pretty Woman", when Vivian heard the beauty in "La Traviata"; if you recall, she didn't need Edward (Richard Gere) to explain further--she fully appreciated the beauty and depth of the music without needing to understand the words. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sorry, guys...this is getting LONG!  My kids are on Spring Break, I'm writing with CONSTANT interruption today, so I think I'll pick up my thoughts in a bit.  It'll give you a break, too ;).

See, I was telling the truth!

Did you read this?

I got a repeat performance this morning.

I am convinced there is nothing man-made that comes close to touching the magnificence and beauty created by God...

...evidenced in sun rises...

...and sunsets...

...and rainbows...

...and waterfalls...

...and the ocean's shore...

...and mountain ranges...

...and  [fill in the blank with your favorite masterpiece of Creation :) ]