April 09-A, 2023

**Talking It Over Oil Paint Rendered — Pamlico Sound, Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina**

Our life is bringing forth
what needs to be brought forth
into each situation as it arises.

What form does your creativity take?
How do you live to express who you are?
What do you have to say
that words cannot convey?

What is your art?
What do you serve
by the way you live?

Sand painting has been around 
for thousands of years.

Wood carving from the beginning of time.

The Inuit stacked rocks
into shapes of people
to comfort themselves
and fellow travelers
across the frozen tundra,
as if to remind themselves
they were not alone,
and drawing courage
from each other's work.

Dancing,
singing,
chanting,
drumming,
making/enjoying music
is a central feature
to life
in every generation
from the earliest days
of the species.

We need our art
the way we need air and water.

We are built to address
more than words can say.

It is who we are.

–0–

Published by jimwdollar

I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing. I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters and five granddaughters within about twenty minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything. View more posts