Winter

We had a master violinist (my mother actually found him on the subways of New York City) and a concert pianist play Vivaldi at our wedding, although they did Spring instead of Winter (we had a spring wedding). It was breathtaking, as the following is...

I love the build-up in the beginning, leading up to a magnificent crescendo, right at 1:19 (you can see the timer at the bottom by moving your mouse toward the bottom).

It makes your heart want to SING!!

happy faces: a poem by me

Grant Wood, American Gothic (1930)
Art Institute of Chicago

Stone faces staring back at me
Not even able to hear

Stone faces staring back at me
Not able to shed a tear

Doing, doing, doing -- no time to be
Not much time to think or feel
Doing, doing, doing -- no time to be
Do you think they'll like your meal?

Afraid to hear the depths of another
You are present but not really here
Afraid to hear the depths of another
What would happen if I saw a tear?

It's who you are; you are what you know
Although you may not understand
It's who you are; you are what you know
You come from a foreign land.

Would like for you to visit my world
Show you what it's like over here
You've been too scared to enter in
Even though you are very near.

Stone faces staring back at me
Not even able to hear
Stone faces staring back at me
Not able to shed a tear.

by jimi ann

Linking to One Shot Wednesday, over at One Stop Poetry - Where Poets, Writers & Artists Meet...

fear of man

Frédéric Bazille

Young Woman with Peonies , 1870
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

"Because people are defective does not mean they cannot see your defects. They see your fears, the contradictions, and your weaknesses. When they see them, they judge them. They assume an interpretation that may have nothing to do with what is really going on...people will criticize...When you are, as I was, unclear, unfocused, and sensitive to criticism, it will cripple you. You will become defensive. You will eventually say or do something that appears to support what people have judged to be wrong with you. If you react, or try to defend yourself, that's when they will get you." ~Iyanla Vanzant

"God is on my side;
I will not fear:
what can man do unto me?"
Psalm 118:6

Linked to Sunday Citar.

embracing our God-given emotions

Vincent Van Gogh 1890

"At Eternity's Gate"
Source: Wikipedia

"Emotion is action. By embracing emotion, the character does something, goes through a change, finds a resolution. It doesn’t matter if the emotion is upbeat or downbeat, positive or negative — the effect is the same.

So don’t be afraid of emotion."

~ Pat Bertram

May we embrace our God-given emotions and not let them scare us into silence and suppression. We need not fear God's powerful handiwork. He made us this way.