Be Inspired For You

Wanted: more to inspire others and fewer to throw cold water on them…

To Dream the Impossible Dream

Just wanted to say that I haven’t forgotten you all.  Has it really been thirteen days since Easter?  Wow!  it seems like it has been months. And time is flying through to May.  
Been swallowed up in the assignments, the presentations, and everything required to satisfy demanding professors who expect me to play the role of Superwoman as a college student.
 
At the same time…you know everyone else is in the same boat as you are, yet they take the time out of their day to send you the assignment instructions that you lost for a paper due the next day.  They simply laugh when you lose your folder filled with all of their music, and just go and copy it again, and assure you again and again that it is not a problem.
These kind of people keep me believing that there is some part of the world that is still sane. 
Or they take the time to keep me sane.
Take for instance, yesterday…
How come you always look tired whenever I see you?  (duh?!!!  ;-) why do you think?     btw, that also isn’t exactly the thing to tell a woman)
 
I do?  Because I am!  How do I look–?  (I was going to ask how I looked tired, but I have a bad habit of never finishing a question…especially when I am tired)
Well …you look very nice.  (a very disarming, relaxed, cheeky grin)
Somehow this person has an amazing way of being honest with me and still keeping my good favor.  :-)
But you said I looked tired? (believe me, I was not trying to do any cross-questioning here)
When I see you you’re always like this… (sitting down and proceeding to give me a demonstration of what I have apparently been doing… leaning my head on my hand and turning my face sideways)
I was?  I didn’t realize I was doing that.  (I give up…I always end up giving up to this person, somehow they always end up being right)
Then I was given an order.
You go home and go to bed and get some rest.   (very kindly and but very seriously as well, I think that this person pretty much figured out that I needed to be told that)
This was something I wanted to hear, but at the same time did not want to hear.  Not when I have a paper due the next morning at twelve.   Not when I have to search for a creative website and present to the class the next day at 2.  Not when I have to…
Did I say I always give up?  I started thinking they might actually be right.  Besides, a hug and a squeeze goes a very long way in the art of persuasion.
I went home and slept for twelve hours….put aside everything…for the sake of some beauty sleep.  
The next day I awoke in time to go to my first class, and I could not believe how alive I actually felt! And very grateful to the person who insisted I get some rest!  It felt so good!  Apparently going to bed at 2 and waking up at 7 every morning is not exactly the schedule to suit my body. 
I was reminded once again that sometimes we have to set aside important things for the more important things.
Especially when  there are not enough hours in the day and definitely not enough hours in the night….
I am rambling again…something I tend to do when I am tired.  And you may be wondering what on earth this all has to do with dreaming an impossible dream?
I want to pass along to you some encouragement.
We all have situations in our life that make us wonder if we can survive through them.  They may be small things…they may be large things.
As of right now, mine may be stressing over Horror Week of School.  As of right now, yours may be as deep as someone you thought you trusted ripping your heart out and leaving you asking the deep pit of a question, “Why?”   This song which I have shared the link to pretty much has it all.
Take a moment out of your life and listen to this angel from heaven.   Little Jackie Evancho is only twelve years old…number two on the 2011 American album charts…but she is a package sent to America from heaven…a national treasure…an inspiration to us all…her voice will stun you… the sheer beauty and maturity of it is stunning, and she sings with passion and ease and comfort.  
“To try when your arms are too weary…to give when you have no more to give…’
Now I feel like marching out and conquering the world and all of its insanity…
I feel like saneness in the midst of insanity and the final Horror Weeks of School are actually possible.   There may just be a chance to stand strong in the midst of pressure. 
I am actually listening to this while I am writing this to you…because to be honest…I really am tired.
And wondering if surviving the last few weeks of playing Superwoman will actually be possible?
For those demons in your life….
Sometimes people cry not because they’re weak. It’s because they’ve been strong for too long.
You, my friend, are running “where the brave dare not go.”
Stay strong.  Stay true to yourself.  You will make it…and please be fair to your body…get some rest.  ;-)
For the star in your life that you are shooting for….dare to dream the impossible dream.
The world will be better for it…somebody, somewhere in the world needs you to stay true to yourself
And now, maybe I better bump taking a nap on my to-do list from last to first .  I’m sure Mr. Sane will appreciate it.
With lots of love,
M.E.
 
P.S. There are several different versions to this song.  These are some of my fave words: 
“To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe, To bear with unbearable sorrow, To run where the brave dare not go.
To right the unrightable wrong, To be better far than you are, To try when your arms are too weary, To reach the unreachable star,
This is my quest, to follow that star, No matter how hopeless, no matter how far, To be willing to give when there’s no more to give, To be willing to die so that honor and justice may live,
And I know if I’ll only be true to this glorious quest, That my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I’m laid to my rest,
And the world will be better for this, That one man scorned and covered with scars, Still strove with his last ounce of courage, To reach the unreachable star.”

April 21, 2012 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Happy Easter 2012!

A blessed Easter to all of you!  Hope it was a glorious day filled with sunshine, joy, and hope…hope you were able to squeeze in an Easter egg hunt or take a deep breath and enjoy the sunshine and the  lilies.  Hope you were reminded of what is most important on this day:  the love of an Almighty God who sent his only begotten Son to suffer on the cross and then rose from the grave so that we might live and celebrate Easter today.

Happy Easter 2012!

M.E.

P.S. The above is an excerpt from “Road to Happiness, Short Story,” which can be found on the main page of the blog.

April 8, 2012 Posted by | Inspirations, Photos | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Amazing Love

She was a beautiful women, young, blonde, full of inward strength, glowing with smiles.

He knew she was. Gazing into her deep blue eyes, the Sheriff’s deputy knew that.

He knew other things about her as well.

She never gave up hope. In the face of adversity, she squared her shoulders, held up her head high, and headed into the coming storm.

She believed. She believed in miracles. She believed in life. She believed in love.

This was the moment for which he had always dreamed.

Gazing up at her Prince Charming with adoring eyes, she knew there was not another man like him in the world.

When adversity would come, he would be right beside her, every step of the way.

She remembered the hours he had spent in a chair across the room from her, unable to come near, just so he could be near her.

She had heard that love “never fails,” but she knew it now.

She had heard that love “never measures, it just gives.”

She knew that for sure.

He had spent the last years, giving and giving and giving to her, when other men would have up and left, unable to cope with it.

Not him.

He was in this, for better or worse.

Whether five days or twenty years, he was in this for good.

She closed her eyes and allowed herself to take it all in.

He held her close to him as if afraid he might lose her. But he couldn’t lose her, could he? Not now, at the beginning of this amazing journey together? With all the dreams they had laid up for the future?

He thought how proud he was that she had made up the aisle it to him tonight without an oxygen tank.

…the oxygen tank.

And she was starting to lean against him, closer and closer, sag more into his strong arms, because she was oh, so tired.

And in pain.

Such intense pain that she hid under her smiles…this graceful former high school homecoming queen…

You see, this is a twenty-first century romance.

Ten years ago, on Valentine’s day, our heroine found out that she had a malignant brain tumor.

She was only eighteen.

Nevertheless, she persevered.

Her former high school sweetheart, from whom she had separated, unaware of her condition, sent her a Valentine’s day note. He figured out that he would try to win her back, one more time.

Only Katie didn’t answer…her dad did. With some disturbing news.

He drove down to see her immediately…something made him want to be with her…something made him know that this woman was someone he wanted to spend his life with.

The operation to remove the tumor was a success.

For a while, it seemed that things might be alright. The relationship flourished, the cancer was gone.

Only the cancer returned, and it was inoperable. It was reaching her heart.

But there was something that the tumor could not beat…

the cancer could not kill…

love.

She gave of herself selflessly to everyone around her…and especially to the love of her life.

And her sweetheart gave of himself to those around her…and especially to her.

He sat across the room from her for hours, while she lay, suffering under intense Chemo treatments.

They talked about their dreams…about the children they hoped to have.

She dreamed of being a high school counselor or a girls basketball coach.

He proposed to her out by the old lighthouse.

She comforted those around her and held onto hope.

Her hairdresser hesitated when she realized she had to cut off the beautiful blond locks. Katie leaned forward, laying her hand on the hairdresser’s arm, and said, “It’s okay.”

It changed her hairdresser’s life. It was an inspiration.

Five days after her wedding, Katie left this world.

She left it touched by her amazing love.

Are there words that can describe that picture?

Only one.

Amazing love.

You see, love is an amazing thing.

It cannot die.

Nothing can touch it.

There is nothing so powerful in the world as love. And Katie and Nick knew that.

That’s why we celebrate Valentine’s day, to celebrate something that has no limit.

On February 14th, we celebrated one of the single most wonderful things in the world.

Tomorrow we can celebrate it again. There is no limit to love.

Let’s celebrate Valentine’s day everyday, just like Katie and Nick did.

They are an inspiration to us all.

“Life is a fragile chain of experiences held together by love. If there could be only one thing in life to learn, it would be to learn to love.

There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer, no door that enough love will not open, no gulf that enough love will not bridge and no sin that enough love will not redeem. It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, how hopeless the outlook or how great the mistake, sufficient realization of love will resolve it all…

 If only you can love enough, you will be the happiest and most powerful person in the world“–Katie Kirkpatrick-Godwin’s valedictorian speech

Happy Valentine’s Day.

With love,

xoxoxo

M.E.

February 17, 2012 Posted by | Heroes and Heroines of Today | , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

   

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