I'm not even sure why I clicked on the "Word of the Day" in my blog's sidebar today. It is a word I know, and had no doubts about. What a surprise I got when the dictionary opened in another window:

ingenue AN-zhuh-noo, noun:

1. A naive girl or young woman.

2. An actress playing such a person; also: the stage role of an ingenue.

It wasn't the definition that surprised me, it was the pronunciation! After all these years of reading the word, I'd never fathomed it could be pronounced "AN-zhuh-noo"!

I'm certain there are countless things that I arrogantly assume I know that will one day prove themselves quite the opposite. Fortunately, our God is Omniscient, and to him there will be no surprises.

(Scroll down my sidebar! I added a new feature, "Verse of the Day".)

From childhood I've found Fanny Crosby's music and life inspiring.  Today in church we sang one of my favorite hymns--every time I hear it I'm awed at the spirit expressed in her simple poem:  Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blest: Ah the peace of true submission.  Not just submission of actions, but full, open trust.  The submission where we are not aware of ourselves, but lost in His love.      Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. Chorus This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.  Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight; angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.  Perfect submission, all is at rest; I in my Savior am happy and blest, watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love.  ~Fanny Crosby~

When we are no longer inspired, we are, to a degree, expired.

Lately, I've not felt the creative inspiration I did in my less sleep deprived days. Why? In part because in the necessary day to day I forget to look for it! And yet, it is everywhere. In the butterfly taking wing, in a child's smile, in the snowflake...even in the dance of the dust particles in front of a bright window.

Creativity is spiritual. The very roots of the words reveal it, and indeed I am convinced that part of our being made in our Creator's image is, having as part of our being a desire to create.  Creativity is a tell-tale sign of sprit that separates us from robots and animals.

Inspiration: in-breathing.                                          

Take a deep breath!  Inspirare!