'I am still learning.'.....
....is Michelangelo's famous quote, one that takes its place on my refrigerator with the postcards of faraway places, the snapshots of adorable grandkids, and a legion of magnets ranging up and down the tacky scale. I used this quote long ago in a talk to the Tarkio National Honor Society banquet in hopes of persuading the graduating seniors that a future in Atchison county would be as rewarding and challenging as any farther afield. Nothing up to this date in 2016 has proved this assumption incorrect! But that’s part of learning, right? To recognize that work and creativity can walk hand in hand in the most mundane of circumstances, the most homely of surroundings.
I have not mastered night photography....or the lowest notes of a saxophone....chipping onto a green....or growing orchids. I haven't read Paul Johnson's "Art" or plunked out a Scott Joplin Piano Rag(not too fast!), thrown a piece of pottery or successfully cast a fly. I cannot seem to remember the sails on a boat or ship nor the stars in common constellations. There are so many places to see...to read about....to understand. And there are gardens to plan and plant, an old house to treasure, a family full of energy, anecdotes, adventures, and minor miracles, and a husband and friend with whom to carom and careen through life....or rest, reminisce, and share.
I want to paint hay bales.....
...and circumnavigate our country...
That's not all.....
As time wears on, Michelangelo's image of God bringing Adam to life holds a deeper meaning for me. I am still learning: still a student of what it means to be human and to aspire. Sixty is too old for lots of things...my eyes will keep me from hitting a fast ball; my knees from downhill skiing; my nerves from drinking coffee all night like I did when I was twenty. But God's word tells us it is never too late to seek His face, to walk His path, or to meditate on His word. Adam's finger reaches for the life giving hand of God, but it could as well be mine. Six, sixteen, sixty or beyond, we can never learn enough...
As time wears on, Michelangelo's image of God bringing Adam to life holds a deeper meaning for me. I am still learning: still a student of what it means to be human and to aspire. Sixty is too old for lots of things...my eyes will keep me from hitting a fast ball; my knees from downhill skiing; my nerves from drinking coffee all night like I did when I was twenty. But God's word tells us it is never too late to seek His face, to walk His path, or to meditate on His word. Adam's finger reaches for the life giving hand of God, but it could as well be mine. Six, sixteen, sixty or beyond, we can never learn enough...
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