Claire Fullerton's Blog: A Writing Life - Posts Tagged "inspirational"

When a book weaves a journey that is more than the sum of its parts, it achieves the full potential of depicting art as life and simultaneously, life as art.
Crescendo is a book with a heartbeat. That it is captivatingly written in novel form gives it a magical, alluring feeling. It involves the reader by depicting the real-life story of a supernaturally gifted musician named Fred Allen, who comes from a desperate, impoverished family in an insignificant town in South Georgia. The book transcends a rags-to-riches story by thematically infusing it with a search for meaning. The seeming unfairness of a uniquely gifted soul being born to such an appalling station gives the reader someone to champion, as musical prodigy Fred Allen makes his way against all odds from the rural South to the heights of celebration in New York City. Divinity itself seems to have a hand in this story. It shows its face along Fred Allen’s ascension with uncanny opportunity and fortuitous timing that suggests elements of the preordained for the purposes of the common good.
Crescendo is an enthralling human-interest story set to music. As Fred Allen persists in cultivating his extraordinary musical career, he meets his life-long collaborator, Winnie, and it shows us that love can save us.
Allen Cheney and Julie Cantrell have created a blockbuster in Crescendo. There is no better way to craft the inspiring story of one humble man who rises to greatness then turns around and gives back to a community. There is hope in this book’s role-model message. Through the power of story, Crescendo tells us that with commitment and perseverance, the spirit can triumph over circumstances to ultimately benefit others.
I recommend this wonderful book wholeheartedly. It is the kind of inspiring, triumphant story you’ll want to share with others to remind them of the goodness in this world. If you’re musically inclined in any way, Crescendo will play the very keys of your soul like a Steinway Grand piano.

Bold, daring, and yes, confessional, River Jordan’s collection of personal essays warns you going into it that you’re in for something unique. After all, what is the art of writing, if not a venue to compare notes on this business of life? Only a master can make this plain through the power of fifty delightful stories. This is a writer who asks the big questions for us; who owns a steady faith base yet thinks outside the box. Confessions of a Christian Mystic is devout and dauntless. It is sonorous, beautiful, soul-deep, and fearless. And it is sardonically funny in its skirt-lifted vulnerability. The chapter titled, “Sometimes Good Girls Get Naked” is a case in point. With a deft hold on sentiment without being overly sentimental, I won’t cheapen this important book by suggesting it’s a page-turner—it is better. Confessions of a Christian Mystic is something to savor. You’ll want to pause and ponder at the end of each chapter.
I applaud every essay in this gorgeous gift of a book. River Jordan has woven vignettes of her personal narrative at such an engaging, introspective pitch that I defy every reader not to see themselves in its pages

One of the gifts of living by the ocean is the view is ever-changing. I have a particular relationship with this constant inconstancy. I am grounded in a reality that fluctuates from no will of mine and it humbles me to bear witness to a majesty I know is endless.
I can literally see the curvature of the earth from my front deck in Malibu. Some days the sea looks like mirrored glass; other days the roiling whitecaps attenuate forever. This is what I can see, yet I know life teems beneath the surface in the labyrinth of an ecosystem of which I can only speculate. And yet I know it is there. Hidden from view, from knowledge, from judgment, from the temptation of assumption. All that is given to me is the moment and my perception. If I stand still and tune into my thoughts, I am aware of my consciousness. I believe if one really wants to know themselves, all they have to do is listen to the song within.
I’m saying all this because first thing this morning, I walked out and was caught unaware by the photograph you see above. It startled me in an awestruck, sobering way, yet the voice I consider the intimate “me” resounded unbiddenly in two words: “Of course.” In that moment, I was reminded of my fundamental beliefs, and they have everything to do with my relationship with the unknown. What I believe is things are rarely as they seem. In the midst of ambiguity, there is always hope.
You don’t need me to remind you these are strange times, unbalancing times, unsettling times, but what I’m thinking of is my understanding of the bigger picture. Because you have to pay attention to your perception of this world. If you do, it dictates experience both immediate and long-range. I’m neither prophet nor seer, but I trust my intuition. When I walked out this morning and saw this neon rainbow placed on the sky seemingly by the hand of God, what I knew at that moment is, always, there is great hope.

To see rainbow photograph https://clairefullertonauthor.wordpre...