enterprise
complete in a picture before your inner
eye. But usually it works for you a step
or two at a time--and works as you work.
Goethe, the famous German poet, expressed
in a familiar verse one of the best of
all methods of getting ideas, namely illumination,
guidance:
"Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute,
What you can do, or dream you can, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin, and then the work will be completed."
That verse has a world of inspiring helpfulness in it. Goethe seemed to know how God likes to work with us. God has a way of helping us when we start to do something for ourselves. We get along better when we begin. We obey the commandments, the urge, the inspiration--begin to obey--and then the reward begins to come. Try that way. Results will surprise you.
Of course, we don't rush to work things out in wood, or steel, or marble, or printed page, until we have first worked them out in mind. But--begin! Begin with the execution of the first glimmer of your idea. And often it will seize the pencil, or the chisel, or whatever the implement or instrument of your craft may be, and do the thing for you--or seem to do it for you--and amaze you with the usefulness or beauty, or both, of the product. Trust the voice, believe in the idea, begin to work it out. There's magic in it!
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