The Gift of Menagerie

A Menagerie that makes beauty.

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of a Menagerie

“Exterior beauty, without the depth of a kind soul is merely decoration.”

Unknown

What is a menagerie?

A menagerie is a collection of eclectic things.

They could be books, they could be trinkets, or just about anything.

A menagerie does not match, it is not a perfect set. 

Yet the menagerie is quite interesting and different, a step apart from the rest. 

In life a menagerie could be a circle of friends, with opinions that vary like the rushing winds. 

A menagerie could be an activity that feeds your soul, to renew you when you don’t feel as bold. 

So cultivate a menagerie in your life. 

Make it full of interesting and quirky things. 

Cultivate joy and meaning even in the simplests of everyday things.

The menagerie can be important when life is very hard. 

Those little pieces can get you through, and bolster your soul and heart. 

Find that small part of a task that brings you joy, and make that menagerie a quiet place that you can enjoy.

When a menagerie comes to mind, I am often reminded of a patchwork quilt.  Different squares knitted with different patterns that bring together a whole.  What gives you depth?  What eclectic and quirky bits feed your soul? What life lessons have contributed to your patchwork quilt? Let’s face it, life can be very difficult at times.  Pain, less joy and despair pepper times in our lives.  In history, a patchwork quilt was constructed out of scraps of old clothing that were falling apart.  These scraps were cut into squares and a colorful quilt was made.  A lot of the time the quilt maker would arrange the old scraps in a geometric pattern or a pattern pleasing to the eye. In that menagerie, or quilt, what portions of life experience,,, whether the situation may have been painful or joyful can you cut into a square in the coverlet of your soul?  Part of growing in life is finding the bits that brought you to where you are now.  What taught you?  What challenged you?  What changed you into a better version of yourself? What pain or pleasure caused your soul to grow? If you can’t think of anything.  That is absolutely fine. But can I encourage you all to try on a new mindset?  I read a meme recently that said: “That apartment may not be a house (but you have a place to stay).  That car may not be a Benz (but you’re not walking).  That job might not be the best (but you’re working).  Something is always better than nothing.”  This small change in perspective will take the glass menagerie of life and make the foundation more solid, more emboldened to live a life of meaning and purpose.  While you are cultivating your quilt, read a book, immerse yourself in music, do a good deed and expect nothing in return.  Take that circumstance that you thought was not the best and practice forgiveness.  Glean that one bit that can contribute to your soular menagerie.   That will be a part of the menagerie, our patchwork quilt if you will that will point us down this road called life. Growing up in the south, we sang a lot of hymns.  I can sit down to the piano and play most of them from memory.  That is how ingrained they are in my mind.  Recently, I decided to look up the history of some of the more popular hymns.  First, Sweet Hour of Prayer.  It was written by William Walford, a lay preacher who was blind! Some of the words are: “Sweet Hour of Prayer, Sweet Hour of prayer, that calls me from a world of care.” It started as a poem from a blind man and now has lived on for almost two hundred years. There is a Fountain Filled with Blood was written by William Cowper in 1771.  This man suffered tragedy after tragedy in his life.  After losing his job, being put in a mental facility, many of his friends passed away.  After all of that, his hymn was considered “controversial because of the words.”  “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.” Many wanted to change the words of the song because of those lyrics. Yet, these attempts failed.  There were other traumatic events in his life that, well, just got worse.  Finally, after much suffering he knew that God wanted him here.  He spent the last few years of his life devoted to service. Finally, It is Well with my Soul.  When I read that this was, “The most heartbreaking song in hymnody”  I learned a new word after reading “hymnody.”  The hymn was written by Haratio Spafford.  This guy lost four daughters in a shipwreck, he lost another son to scarlet fever.  He lost his fortune, his life was full of absolute misery.  Yet, he wrote the words: When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.  Take those patches that are torn, they have seen a lot.  They may even not be the prettiest design in the lot and just go for it. Find your menagerie.  Let it shape you into the best version of yourself.  Make your beauty in the menagerie of your soul shine so bright that it exudes from your exterior.  

Source: umcdiscipleship.org