BEAUTY, DEPTH AND PURPOSE OF LOVE
Artists see a comingling of beauty, depth, and purpose that underlies their compositional and technical applications within a poem, a painting, a song, or any other artform. Importantly, you and I can
choose to create beauty, seek deep meaning, and find a true purpose in our lives.
In that capability, we are not only the artist we are also the
medium and the instruments. Our lives are the canvas or other forms of presentation. The beauty of our lives may be short-lived yet may be enjoyed by many. But the meaning in our lives is determined by ongoing discernment and is always an effort in our depth of personal
faith and hope.
And love… love is absolutely and most assuredly the only enduring existential purpose in our human lives.
Jim Davis
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THIS PIECE OF PAPER…
To the reader,
This piece of handcrafted paper is unique in all the world and across all time and space, throughout the observed universe. It did not appear by
chance nor happenstance: I lovingly willed and fashioned it from a harvest of living wildflowers – specifically for the sole purpose of conveying a message of love… to you.
Such elegance and rarity in its
form and such significance of its purpose makes this piece of paper very loved by me, and its message is deeply precious to me … And this is just a small sheet of paper; YOU, on the other hand, are a living and wondering complexity, possessing both learned knowledge and descriptive language.
As a creature, you are unique in all the world and across space and time: throughout the observed universe, you are
alone in your ability to wonder, to question, to answer, to believe, and to choose freely. You have travelled far, very far beyond instinctive behaviour. Do YOU ever question that you only exist by mere chance?
Do YOU ever marvel at the evident and studied improbabilities, comparative brevity, and uniqueness of human existence on this garden
planet? Were YOU perhaps willed and created, and are YOU precious? Can YOU believe in a message that YOU are truly loved? … And how can YOU discern YOUR existential purpose, in view of such a love?
Jim Davis,
Papermaker
“GROUP OF SEVEN” STEW (2016)
One dark night, a young park ranger came upon a camp of elderly men while on the way to his own campfire about a mile to the north. As was his habit, he stopped to talk and soon found himself served up with a most delicious stew. He asked for the recipe, and this is what he was told:
James brings the spuds, and Frank brings the onions. Alex adds the celery; Fred, the carrots; and Arthur, the mushrooms. A.J. brings the sweet potato, “’cause he likes ‘em”, and Lawren the beef because Tom can’t bring the moose meat. We all drink one glass of wine to remember Tom, and we toss his glass of wine into the mix. We cook it up over the campfire all day and feast under a cold, clear, September sky, at night; just like Tom always wanted.
Jim Davis
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TO NEVER WALK ALONE
The old man paused to take in the scene unfolding before him: two young people, holding hands, gazed intently into each other’s eyes. Loving tenderness was there, but so also was uncertainty and a little fear. A kiss was just a moment, but such a promise carried expectations of a lifetime. What of hopes?… What of dreams?… Hard times and harder parenting? Will we find our way? What if we falter?… “Life on this Earth is unpredictable…”, the old man offered as he quietly shuffled up to them ” … so why not walk together, and never walk alone.”
Jim Davis
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