Channeling God's Enthusiasm

In an interview with journalist Jonathan Cott, composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein informed him that “the word ‘enthusiasm’ was derived from the Greek adjective entheos, meaning ‘having the god within,’ with its attendant sense of ‘living without aging,’ as did the gods on Mount Olympus” (reported in Brain Pickings: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/10/03/dinner-with-lenny-leonard-bernstein-jonathan-cott/?mc_cid=44a4e92543&mc_eid=d3043f712b).

Could it be that enthusiasm is the fountain of youth? More importantly, could it be that we are channeling God within us when we are enthusiastic about something?

Our various enthusiasms for the color purple or a particular sports team or the songs of Johnny Cash or quotations from Monty Python movies can seem silly compared to the “real stuff” of our lives — you know, our work, raising a family, our faith, and what we will leave for the next generation. The funny thing is, often what people remember about us and remark on at our funerals are our enthusiasms—our fondness for gooseberry pie, our devotion to growing dahlias, our inability to pass by a garage sale, our love of motorcycles. They remember these things because this is where we are deeply connected with God who is enthusiastic about EVERYTHING, who has an infinite well of love for the things we love as well as the things we disdain.

Don’t feel guilty about taking time for the things that spark your enthusiasm; as the poet ee cummings said, “you shall above all things be glad and young / for if you’re young, whatever life you wear / it will become you; and if you are glad / whatever’s living will yourself become.” Henry David Thoreau said, “None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm,” so stay young by engaging in what makes you glad and you’ll find that you are closer to God, the infinite lover of life, as well.