My Mysterious Muse

Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse,...
~ John Milton, opening of Book 1 of Paradise Lost

I love to write. I love keeping a journal of my thoughts, events, spiritual trials, and even my prayers. You may have noticed that I do not typically use the word "love" in my writings. I have a high regard for expressing it, preferring to reserve the word "love" in describing my feelings for things that have life, as I do not like to demean the significance of the word. Of course, there are different kinds of love but...if I say I love this and that several times a day, as so many do, how can I emphasize my love for my husband or daughter so they don't feel they equate to a couple of scoops of Brownie Mud Pie Ice Cream? If God is love, how can I possibly suggest that I love a pair of slouch leather western boots?

A cousin once told me that a person cannot love anything that has no ability to love in turn. I was a teenager and I remember that day opened my eyes to what love should be, a sacred trust that God chose to share with us. Now, God is worthy of my love. People are to be loved, whether they are worthy of it or not. I care for animals, but I love my pets as they, at least, show a preference for me, should one contend an animal cannot really love.

However, when it comes to being creative, the joy it gives me is beyond even chocolate. I love creating things and writing qualifies. However, to my own surprise, I struggled with keeping a private journal. I liked the idea of it, but the execution only met its minimum purpose; it was rather dry, perhaps lifeless, to me. I did not love it. I did not know it at the time but I needed a Muse.

Muses are the inspirations of artists. The term "muse" comes from mousa in Greek, literally meaning "song" or "poem". In Greek mythology, Muses were goddesses able to originate and also personify mousike, the art of the Muses, now known as music.

I met my blogging muse years ago (How many has it been? Perhaps five?) on a message board and slowly developed our friendship, a comfortable pace for us both. I did not recognize her as my muse then and I did not really get to know her until I began reading her blog. I realized then that message boards may be where one can meet people, but I never really got into the life of a person. With the discovery of blogs, they became my preference quickly. My muse inspired me by her own writings and perhaps also with some pleadings for me to begin blogging.

It was there that I found what I was missing! That essence of life in journaling I had been seeking and that I so much needed! Blogging inspire me to write...but not just blogging of itself. In very the beginning, I had only one reader: my muse. My blog is not private but it also does not come up on the search engines so I had this little corner of the Internet pretty much to myself and my muse. I would write knowing that she may be the only one who found any interest at all in the musings of my mind, yet not writing to please her at the same time. Just knowing she might read my blog was enough of an inspiration to continue writing.

I love my writing muse, my friend.

P.S. I must confess something. Although I used the quote above, I have only had a vague knowledge that there was a book named Paradise Lost, but not ten volumes! And, of course, I have not read any one of them--what a shame! I have read a bit of it on online here and I must say definitely worth the reading.

My Lord, thank you for all my friends I have (have had and will have), for they all inspire me in differing ways and may they all do so according to Your will, and a special thank you for my writing muse.