Happenings 20 June 2019

‘Enthusiasm’ – perhaps another name for ‘passion’! Oh, how we need it! Arthur Gordon writes, ‘Enthusiasm – from the beginning a remarkable word. The ancient Greeks used it to describe an inspired person: en meaning in, and theos meaning god. The enthusiastic person, they thought, was one who reflected the presence of an indwelling god. … The enthusiastic person has the capacity for generating excitement about ideas, people, events – anything. He responds to the stimuli of life not only with his five senses and his brain, but with his emotions as well. He feels things. He cares. And in proportion as he cares, he is alive – just as when you stop caring altogether you are dead. …Each of us has some of that divine spark, more perhaps than we know. Some of us let it grow dim under the dust of daily living. Some of us, like the man in the Parable of the Talents, hoard it jealously, bury it for safekeeping deep within ourselves. This is a mistake. Enthusiasm, like any other form of love power, needs to be expressed, must be liberated if it is to grow. People who give free rein to their enthusiasm will never run short of it, for by so doing they are constantly adding to the supply. Enthusiasm: the greatest gift in the world! But to keep it, you have to give it away.’ As we slide into our winter months, let’s keep our reservoirs of enthusiasm topped up!

In Him
Murray