Rain

     In the middle of the night I heard rain on the roof. I almost scrambled out of bed to look at it. Marin County needs rain, or by next year we will really be in trouble. Thoughts come into my mind and I wonder what an individual needs to live a satisfying life. Perhaps some need the heavy rain of friends; others a solitary existence. Most of all each person must be able to choose what will bring great growth just as the rains bring fresh green. The hills have no choice. They just are there. Perhaps all should take anything that comes to us and thrive in our own way. When the hills are brown, they are still existing. Think about it. Stir up the brain. What is the forecast for your growth--cloudy, no change, the usual? Does any of this make sense?

Inspiration

     Two pokes hit me recently. A friend said she had come to my blog spot and I hadn't written anything for months. The next thing I hear from someone is that she had read over all my blogs. Why, I wondered. Do I perhaps have something to say now and then?
     My question is--what is inspiration, and where does it come from? I don't know why this word and idea came to me, but I went to the dictionary and looked up the word. Eleven definitions face me, but the ones I like are "to produce or arouse a feeling or a thought" and "to influence or impel".
     When I taught my 8th graders many times I felt that indeed I had aroused some thought. Evidence of this came to me in some of the essays my students wrote. Seeing this evidence led me to want to keep inspiring as much as I could. Even now at my mature age I continue to at least try to influence or impel someone for a greater thought, yes to simply inspire them to greater things. Too many of us satisfy ourselves with so little. I include myself here, but I keep pushing myself to greater thought.
     How about you?