If you have visited before you probably know that for almost a year I used the title, LET THE NAME OF THE LORD BE PRAISED. But if truth be told, I saw it in part on the title of another blog so it wasn't original with me. I wanted something that I thought of--something that truly described me and my life. Recently I changed the title to SING A NEW SONG. I love all the verses in the Bible where it speaks of singing a new song to the Lord--I loved it but it wasn't my perfect title.
I have always loved MEMORIES--PRESSED BETWEEN THE PAGES OF MY MIND but the blog is about much more than just "memories," although I have to admit at my age, I catch myself writing about and enjoying them a lot. Still that title just wasn't right either.
I went through many others in my mind-planning and arranging--planning and arranging.
When I read the article about famous last lines, I never dreamed that my answer would lie there but it did and I knew it the minute I saw it. It jumped out at me in seemingly bold 72 font. I thought of all the things I had experienced--a life so, so rich with experiences, friends, loved ones, blessings from God, a poetry-quoting and singing father, the sweetest mother who ever walked the face of the earth, a good husband, 3 wonderful sons and their wives, 7 great grandkids, unexpected trips to UK, France, Brazil and China that I never dreamed I would get to take, 15 years of teaching in the projects and all the heart-wrenching experiences that go with it, 5 years of teaching in a crown-jewel ultra liberal high scoring school where every belief I ever had was challenged most every day.
Add to that, meeting a friend kinda late in life who gave me my first watercolor lesson, a happenstance head-on collision with calligraphy in 1981 which changed my life forever, an unplanned meeting with one of the world's premier calligraphers in 2006 which set me on a path of art that I never dreamed I would have the ability to do, well, get the picture? I could go on and on and on but I would bore you. I know my life is not as exciting to you as it is to me.
The only thing wrong with the title in my mind was this: (in the form of a prayer) Oh Lord, I don't want to be misunderstood. I don't want people to think that my life has just been good--no sorrows, no mistakes, no tears, no heartaches, no deep mourning. They would never identify with that. I want people to know that I am real. That I hurt--that my life is so, so rich but yet I have suffered deep, deep heartbreak.
And just as soon as I prayed it, this answer came to me. He "threw in" the bottle too. And I remembered a poem that my mom had sent someone based on a Bible verse. It goes like this:
