“A star danced, and under that was I born. ”
― William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
I love children. They move through life unabashedly, celebrating exactly who they are. Try asking a kid under the age of eight, if they think they’re cute. Anytime I have, I’ve always been answered with a resounding “yes.” Each child could barely contain their good fortune at being born. Few of us are lucky enough to carry this joy of existence into adulthood. At what point did we become blind to our exquisiteness? Perhaps this lack of vision contributed to Peter Pan’s decision to never grow up.
It’s true, we each have our own beauty and peculiarity’s. I am encouraged by the trend to love who we are, both inside and out. It’s refreshing to know that we don’t all need to fit into the same box. Moreover, we were born not to. Woven together we make up the tapestry of our perfectly, imperfect world. The contrast of our uniqueness is what gives depth and vibrancy to life. Children know what medieval artisans knew when they purposely left a mistake in their tapestry – perfection is boring. Idiosyncrasies are what make life interesting. Thank goodness, because we all have them.
Today is the perfect day to begin viewing life like a child again. Love yourself because of your flaws, not in spite of them. They may well be God’s gift to you.
My cousin’s daughter Kenna showing me what “Ta Da” looks like.
Kenna all grown up. Born under a dancing star, indeed.
Text and images © Sue Shanahan. All rights reserved.
Commonplace Grace 
So wise! That’s why it’s so enjoyable to watch young children at the beach or in the park. Shrieks of delight in the spray of the waves or the warmth of the sand. The exhilaration felt on the swing set. “take me back!”
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I want to go back too! Something occurred to me about your daughter. You and Kathleen are the dancing stars she was born under. 🙂
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Aww so sweet of you to say that. Stars are beautifully symbolic because you could look at the size of our universe and think how unimportant we are compared to the vastness of the universe or you could look at (and feel) how tied we are to “the star stuff” we are made from and feel one with the universe. All that was and will be.
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So beautiful, Sue!
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Thanks, Judy. In retrospect I can see characteristics I felt were flaws turned out to be blessings that had just gone awry for a time.
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I’m Judy’s ASU college roommate and she has previously shared your artwork with me. Your artwork and your thoughts are wonderful and I appreciate that Judy shares them with me.
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Thanks for sharing with me. I enjoy writing the blog and it’s gratifying to know that people enjoy it. I’ve been an artist since childhood but the writing part is more recent.
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Such a great post. When do we loose our magic and why does it take a life time to get it back?
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I guess we should just count our lucky stars (pun intended) that we knew the magic was missing and actively sought bringing it back.
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Just what I needed to hear!
Thank You, Sue
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When I wrote it was just what I need to hear too. We all come from the same mold.
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“Woven together we make up the tapestry of our perfectly, imperfect world. The contrast of our uniqueness is what gives depth and vibrancy to life.”
Wow. Thank you for sharing your exquisite gift of writing!
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Thank you so much for the compliment about my writing. It is so affirming to me. I just recently began tapping into that aspect of my creativity so it’s good to know it touches others.
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The small child inside me likes very much this post!
robert
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