APPURTENANCE

APPURTENANCE

Don’t worry if this word is not a part of your everyday vocabulary. It is not a part of mine either. My husband and I routinely share the word of the day with our son and his lady friend. We text a sentence or two using the word, hoping they guess its meaning. They have graciously played along. The words often function as a hippocrene for what you read in this blog. Oops, another new word – this one is so obscure that spellcheck says it is not a word. Little things, like these words, function as accessories to my thought life and inspire what I write. I get joy out of sharing something new to me with you.

Yes, I get as excited about new words as I get about spring, gardening, and summer and watching things grow. These things and so many others enrich my soul like manure enriches soil. Seemingly small and insignificant things have a way of bringing much joy and adding spark and enrichment to my life if I let it. What small thing brings you joy?

As I write this, we are exactly five months from Christmas and in the clutches of 95-to-100-degree weather so, I thought I would share a small 2022 Christmas memory as an illustration of joy, spark, and enrichment.

We invited friends and family over before Christmas for “Appetizers and Art (Apps and Art) party. Everything needed for painting and partying was provided. We settled the young ones at the kitchen table with art materials and the adults got busy. Each grabbed a canvas, easel and paint and the creative child in us appeared. We were eager to enrich our holiday experience by trying something new. All had a blast, photos prove it. Some completed their art project. I did not. All went home with an easel, canvas, and art supplies…our Christmas gift to them. I vowed to finish the intricate Christmas wreath that I had chosen to paint by the end of January. I fulfilled my vow.

A simple fun Christmas task (Christmas and all that is associated with it brings me joy), continued to work its magic on me during the dreary days of winter. In February, I completed an acrylic landscape painting. In March, I attempted a self-portrait and began to experiment with charcoals and pastels. And art on the porch was a lifeline during the season of vertigo.

All of nature has become my hippocrene for painting and drawing – something that I had never thought about doing before. The results are now appurtenances for the walls of my “she shed.” By now you have figured out that hippocrene, a noun, is used to refer to poetic or literary inspiration and appurtenance is an accessory. I challenge you to try these words in conversation with a loved one.

I was filled with joy in the remembrance of “Apps and Art.” So, I ask the question again, “What small seemingly insignificant thing brings you joy?

Proverbs 17:22

PONDER THIS THOUGHT—Choose joy as your traveling buddy for the journey.