Inspiration
Inspiration is such an amazing word.
What does it mean to be inspired?
For me, it is not just one thing...but a combination of it all.
I was born this way. In constant motion from sunrise until the minute my eyes can no longer bear to be a part of the day. As a small child growing up in the big apple (NYC), I had parents who were church planters. They would usually have people over our house a few nights a week and I would walk in to a room full of people and announce, " I am going to bed. "
When I would wake to the sounds of little birds chirping and the sun creeping in my window, I would all again be inspired for another day.
Things that inspire me... to name a few of course there are too many to count.
1. MUSIC
I have been writing music since I was 6 years old and recorded my first song for a program on suicide at the age of 12. The song was called Take His life instead of yours. What inspires me about music? The power it has to capture a moment in life and suspend it in memory. I love that I can hear, feel, see, and smell life as it was when I hear a song. If life was good, the memory and the song are good. If life was bad, well... you get it.
When I start writing a song it comes all at once. It is not hard and it is very natural. I was birthed this way with a gift for music. It is also the way I deep think. Ironically I can drive for a 10 hour car ride with no music at all. Whatever, I did not say this makes sense. Moving on.
The link below is a song I wrote about my life transforming experience of giving my heart to Jesus as a little girl. P.S. When I was 20 I got pregnant (thats the 20 and afraid part) by my boyfriend (now husband of 24 years this May 21, 2018 ) that my parents did not know I had, and told my preacher father after an alter call to the thousands of Liberty U students he was speaking to at the spiritual emphasis week in 1994. On a brighter note, Eric and I were married by the Reverend Jerry Falwell who was himself a great man of God and understood that inspiring a generation of youth to change the world was possible through Liberty University (formerly Liberty Baptist College). He married us at Thomas Road Baptist Church and gave me the much needed grace I needed to continue to live out the rest of my days as a women who was not perfect, but felt the power of Jesus in and upon her life. I cannot speak for anyone else, but my love for Jerry and for the way he handled my public humiliation will forever be something that I will appreciate. Of course there was a need for rules and yes when we fall outside the rules of God we have to live with the consequences of those choices, but love can cover a multitude of sin. To the reverend Jerry Falwell, who enjoys heaven and all it's glory, thank you. You gave me the gift of Eric Pothoven...love of my life... and former Liberty University Basketball Big South Champion. I would have never met him since he was from tiny little Pella, IA and I was from that big yummy apple...NYC! Oh and yes of course, he inspires me also...the man, the one and only, Eric Pothoven.
2. SUNRISE
I am a self proclaimed expert on sunrise. I feel so inspired and in awe of the sunrise. I cannot put my finger on it, but there is a ginormous amount of quickly changing masterpiece magic that happens inside of me for those moments. It happens so fast. The sun popping up part from the other side of the earth is not even the best part for me. I think it is stopping to watch all of creation take a moment and see an eyelash of the eternal. The soft colors. The vibrant ones. All of it. The streaks of light an beams. The birds singing and looking for food. The sun, created for this very purpose, to shed light on us during the day and keep us from freezing up on the earth...doing exactly what God created it to do. Wow. Just wow. Inspiration is easy to find in the am for me. I listen to a great song on my iphone and sometimes raise my hands up and stare at the supernatural. It makes me feel special. Like it was all for me because I am willing to stop and look. I took the photo below on a sunrise walk in Florida. Oh did I mention...sunrises are way better at the Ocean, this is a personal opinion.
I took the photo below on a sunrise walk in Florida ( iphone 6) Oh did I mention...sunrises are way better at the Ocean, this is a personal opinion.
yes and this is what the sunrise looks like at 6am... sometimes it is just the light and the calm that inspire me.
This is a photo I took from my iphone 6 ( sunrise at Word of Life up in Schroon lake, NY)
3. GARDENING, BUILDING, DECORATING, CREATING
Yes I know that is more than one thing, but I don't know how to explain all of the above as being inspirational. I go to a store called Elm and Iron sometimes close to where I live in Columbus, OH. This store always has great displays and it inspires me. I love walking around antique shops and seeing things from the past. They inspire me. I love putting my hands in the dirt and moving plants. Stepping back and seeing the vision of what could be is something that comes easy to me. I would not call myself a visionary but I do feel that I see the end even at the beginning at times, and then there are times when the end evolves along the way.
I love to decorate a room and change it often. I also seem to like some things that stay the same. Go figure. I did not say I was not complicated.
Made this cute little coffee table with the help of my man slave...aka...love of my life. I was given a butcher block and fence piece. I turned them into this cool piece. Bought these legs at an antique shop. They were 4 feet tall and I cut them down to size and sanded them. I used bed slats to form the bottom of the base and a few 2 by 4 pieces for the feet. I rubbed oil all over it and have loved it in my family room for the last few years! Boom.
We (my husband and I) made this really great sign for a few bucks. It was so easy. We took the same bed slats from Home depot and Kreg Jig pockets to put together. We bought the letters on sale with a 50 percent off coupon from Joannes Fabric store and screwed them on after we stained the wood. Super easy, super inspirational. Family, a word that inspires me.
I took our home which had full blown shade and saw a great sunny patch and fireplace spot. For about $200 dollars I bought some pea pebbles and used some brick I found on my property and planted some flowers. Boom, inspiration. I have loved sitting outside in my garden for and enjoying my firepit for the past 10 years.
And another angle.
This one is from another path I put in a few years later called the pathways to peace... I took this picture on the day before my daughter Alexa graduated from High School July 2013
4. LAST BUT NOT LEAST IN ANYWAY...FAMILY AND FRIENDS
him... Eric... love of my life. An inspiration to all things perfect and orderly.
Alexa and Nicholas...my two most wonderful creations.
family in the car crew
parentals Tom & Vicky Mahairas
old school sibs pic
my daughter
Beach crew (Mahairas family Jersey shore pic)
Did I mention him? He gets annoyed with my antics but believe me he loves it. You cannot kind of tell from this pic but he gets me.
Way to many friends and family to post pics of but the you inspire me to great things.
In closing, take a few moments to think about what inspires you. Inspiration can be a catalyst for the incredible. Life is meant to be lived abundantly. Do yourself a favor and stop focusing on all the people in your life who suck the inspiration out of you and try and focus on things that inspire. Of course it goes without saying the God is the source of all real and true inspiration for life and all things living abundantly. It is my personal experience that even when you are down, or sick, or experiencing loss or chronic illness. Whatever your circumstance, it only takes a little spark of inspiration to help lighten the load and burden of a day. Live every day while you are alive. I don't subscribe to the idea of YOLO. I say you live everyday. Living once sounds so uninspiring to me.
That me peeps.
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