I recently wrote a poem about a fantastic friend of mine. I described her as "enthusiasm incarnate." When I write poetry especially; words just flow into my fingers without me giving them much thought. Later I go back to evaluate what has been written. This quality of enthusiasm incarnate caught my attention. What did I mean by that? As I sat to ponder, thoughts of my Hans came to mind immediately. Hans too was enthusiasm incarnate. Enthusiasm is a great word meaning possessed by God or having God within. This is not possession like ownership but possession like being so filled up and influenced by the divine. Incarnate means that something has been embodied in the flesh, made real to us. Hans was enthusiasm incarnate. And what was my evidence? Joy and energy. Han's energetic joy bubbled out of him regularly through his smile, through his bouncing body, through his shouts of "Yeah, let's do it!" Such energy, such ecstatic joy, I can only describe as coming from the source itself, God. Certainly God filled that boy's heart, body and soul. It was felt just by being in the room with him. IT was felt when he spoke. It was felt when he sang. IT was felt when he played backyard football and cheered for this team, the Minnesota Vikings. It was felt as he took on radiation and chemotherapy. And it was felt even as he faded away. [He died at age 11 of brain cancer] Hans loved life, loved people as if possessed by God.
My friend is also enthusiasm incarnate. Just being in her presence reminds one of the depth of joy one might feel if possessed by God. And it's real and tangible. I feel it when she sings, when she works, when she greets people on the street or in the line at Chipotle restaurants. It's real and genuine. It's available for all. It's God's love in the flesh.
People like Hans and my friend were told to hush, sit still and be quiet when I was growing up. Grownups filled with responsibility and the somberness of living a devout Christian life were eager to hush such foolish outbursts of joy and energy for life. And why is that? Why were they and why are we so quick to squelch that which is evidence of God's abundance and grace; God's pure pleasure in us? Why does our worship often resemble a morbid funeral march instead of a birthday celebration; celebrating our rebirth each and every day?
I like to think that I was once a child with enthusiasm incarnate and then I learned to be quiet like the adults who I looked up to insisted on. And then I met my children. I met Hans, my fantastic friend and others. And now after many, many years of trying to hold that enthusiasm at bay, I am finally allowing it voice once again. I find my voice is changing (literally). The fire in it is growing, the conviction getting stronger. I pray that one day soon, I will be so possessed by God that it will encourage someone else, lift someone else up as I have been.
Thanks be to God and to Hans and to my friend C and others for spilling their joy on my lap.
Blessings on your day,
Jules
--
Julie A. Bonde
Whispers of Wisdom
With Creativity and an Open Heart, I will Nurture the Spirit of God in myself and others. This is my mission, this is my prayer.~JAB
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