Gather

      When I read the word prompt today for Five Minute Friday I thought of gathering people together, first. That seemed to be the obvious subject in my head. I looked around me and remembered my thoughts on the gathering of things. I am trying to purge and often go through a process of deciding what is necessary and what should go.

       Conversations came to mind with friends over the subject of visual beauty and the effect it has on our thinking and motivation. Gathering together beautiful things can ready the mind to action, it can soothe the mind to create comfort, and it can open the heart to be mindful.

   I am drawn to people who can gather objects together that alone seem useless but together make a story. The stories are sometimes melancholy. A picture of the past, a ball of twine, or a teacup used decades ago; all together create a quilt of loving and losing.

     I consciously gather objects on my art desk. My eyes roam over them when I can't go forward with a painting. Sometimes it is a color, a shape, or even the parallel lines of of the outside of a container that catch my fancy and a new idea surfaces.

   

   As fast as I gather I can also toss. In a moment of righteous cleaning I throw out things willy nilly. Power to remove is as important as the gift to gather; with things, that is. In truth, I sometimes search for  objects I remember loving and find them gone.

          We live in a throw away world. Nevertheless, I do value gathering things that are beautiful, memorable, and motivating. Some things have lasted my lifetime and a few are objects that were gathered by lives before me. Those are precious, indeed.

 

     
        I write on Fridays with a large group who inspire me. Only five minutes and without much thought to perfection. I write, prompted by one word that sends my thoughts to the keyboard and hopefully make sense.