Friday, February 20, 2009

a reminder - i'm only dreaming



Inspiration is a fickle friend. Here I am home alone, house tidied, grocery list done, showered, dressed and ready for her company. Where is she? I spent an hour at my drawing table with paper and pencil but spent so much time using the eraser I may have to vacuum again. I did finish another stage of the current silk project but I don't actually accept that as a satisfactory gift of Inspiration. It's just work - more pleasant indeed than work work but..





So following an age old custom (okay, fairly recent habit), I decided to go visiting Blogland instead. Sorry if I haven't left many comments but that will come later I promise. Meanwhile I found this sweet story on my friend laughing wolf's blog and he gave me permission to repost it here. He always cheers me up and if you visit there I'm sure you'll see why.

It is reported the following edition of the Book of Genesis was discovered in the same area as the Dead Seal Scrolls.

And Adam said, "Lord, when I was in the Garden, You walked with me every day. Now I do not see You any more. I am lonesome here, and it is difficult for me to remember how much You love me."

And God said, "No problem! I will create a companion for you... that will be with you forever... and who will be a reflection of My love for you, so that you will know I love you, even when you cannot see Me. Regardless of how selfish and childish and unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are, and will love you as I do, in spite of yourself."

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam.
And it was a good animal.
And God was pleased.
And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam, and he wagged his tail.

And Adam said, "But Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom, so all the good names are taken, and I cannot think of a name for this new animal."

And God said, "No problem! Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him... DOG."

And DOG lived with Adam, and was a great companion to him, and loved him.
And Adam was comforted.
And God was pleased.
And DOG was content... and wagged his tail.

After a while, it came to pass that Adam's guardian angel came to the Lord and said, "Lord, Adam has become filled with pride. He struts and preens like a peacock, and he believes he is worthy of adoration. DOG has, indeed, taught him he is loved, but no one has taught him humility."

And the Lord said, "No problem! I will create for him a companion, who will be with him forever, and who will see him as he is. This new companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know he is not worthy of adoration."

And God created CAT... to be another companion to Adam.
And CAT would not obey Adam.
And when Adam gazed into CAT's eyes, he was reminded he was not the supreme being.
And Adam learned humility.
And God was pleased.
And Adam was greatly improved.
And CAT did not care... one way or the other.

With love to Lily and LaBelette Rouge. There's nothing like the Inspiration encountered on a walk with one's dog so long as one's spiked heels don't sink too deeply into the grass. Now I think I'll go for a walk with my imaginary pup and come back to that drawing later.

15 comments:

  1. I think that picture alone would cheer anyone up who is down in the dumps!

    ReplyDelete
  2. liberality - It's amazing and makes me smile every time I see it :-) See?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Heh heh. I'm still a cat person though. As for inspiration standing you up, have you thought about a sacrifice, an offering? I've got a few human suggestions. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh that silly inspiration, alway playing games like that.
    someone should teach her how to make shadow puppets.
    frankly, i think she sleeps a lot, and uses binaca so you don't notice when she stirs and looks over your shoulder.

    ReplyDelete
  5. is that really lily? she is such a sweetheart, I want one!

    your diva is turning out nicely, as always...your need to vacuum because of so much erasing really made me laugh as I have that problem, only I never REALLY vacuum; they just pile up around my table(or bed) until finally my dh does it for me!

    somedays, lady inspire just never makes an appearance...sadly...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I loved that story. It made me give my lab a hug, thanks. (I love cats, too, especially male cats as they have such attitude.) My house was never so clean as when a paper was due in college.

    ReplyDelete
  7. randal - I've got my scythe sharpened. Do I have to wait for the full moon?

    sera - Her substantial visits tend to be when you have a bunch of other stuff to get done. Then she's like 'Helloooh! This will be much more fun than what you're doing, you boring person you!'

    linda - I thinks this one is an Essence of Lily. Sheer light and exuberance. I want one too.

    I'm glad you like the cameo. The problem with silk painting is the difficulty of doing shading and contouring. Of course, the silk makes up for some of that.

    lol - I do miss having a dog to hug and go for walks with. Maybe I'll put a leash on one of my houseplants.. or maybe not.

    ReplyDelete
  8. glad you enjoy your visits, susan

    welcome, any time :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. I live (if one can all it that) with three cats.

    Sigh.

    Very humbly yours,
    Martha

    PS: Your silk painting is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  10. l :D wolf - I do. It's kind of like a show of shows (Ed Sullivan style) - wonderfully full of surprises and treats.

    crow - You're obviously a brave woman. Some people, Randal included, can just take more existential punishment than others :-)

    I'm glad you like the silk piece.

    ReplyDelete
  11. So in our house it's all humility and no adoration. That explains some things.

    And I know just what you mean about the eraser and having to vacuum again. For me this evening everything I painted got the white-out treatment afterward. Some things are now more interesting, with more layers, but I got nowhere discernible. But often a journey is like that, I suppose - some sections seem like driving through nowhere. You still have to pass through there to get where you're going.

    Tomorrow.

    Your final silk painting is beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  12. steve - Perhaps it's time to add a canine to the mix if the feline chatelaines would allow it.

    Yeah, today was eraser day but at least the aggravation left me with a few clues I didn't have before. I've got a hint of a story somewhere around here.. maybe under this cushion.

    The silk isn't quite finished since it has yet to go through the steaming process but the essence is done and I'm glad you like it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. it's interesting
    watching the process,
    the hooks, the layers
    of color, imagining
    the steaming and
    construction, something
    out of nothing, but
    you and beauty.

    ReplyDelete
  14. sera - You're very kind. I hope you like the new post with some detail about how something can come from nothing :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thank you so much for this lovely post and gorgeous and smile inducing shout out.
    Lily, He-weasel and I just came back from the beach and she leaped into the ocean just like the picture of that gorgeous white dog. It was fantastic. I wish you and crow could have been there.
    Huge hugs and lots of Lily licks to you.xoxoxo...

    ReplyDelete