Image via spiritualicon.com
By David Borzo
A world famous recording artist, actress, Talk Show host, spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association, Ordained Minister….and oh yeah, a television star! Della Reese has been there and back, and she had a lot to share with the Des Moines Civic Center crowd, as a part of the 2011 SmartTalk Connected Conversation™ series.
Everything started with singing for Della, and she said that when she was born – and the doctor gave her that little slap on the bottom to start crying – she instead started humming. (And what projection!) As she grew up, her mom often asked her to please go outside and sing because she was singing around the house all the time. Then Della was singing professionally by the age of thirteen, when hired by the late Mahalia Jackson, the “The Queen of Gospel.”
Her career path has taken her so many places since then, most notably perhaps as the star of Touched by An Angel (where she was able to combine her talent for acting and singing, as she sang the theme song). For her well measured Smart Talk presentation, Della exhibited lots of humor and confidence: she also asked us to put aside the concept of conceit, which she defined as exercising a high opinion of ourselves – and instead replace it with confidence, which she defines as having a real belief in our powers.
Della Reese Recording Star! image via spiritualicon.com
Della was born in 1931 to her mother who was 48. When Della was very young she suffered from rheumatic fever and her doctors said she wouldn’t make it. But her mother talked to her all the time though, staying positive and treating Della as if she were healthy. The power of positive thinking. She has used the power of an affirmative outlook ever since, saying that it’s important to believe in what you do, and that you deserve the things you dream for. Just as she did when she and her mother would go to the movies in the 1940s, where they watched Joan Crawford, Lena Horne and Bette Davis, portraying glamorous lives on-screen.
And Della also spoke of her deep faith, and letting God expresses himself through you. In a sense “God needs us to express his love to us” she said, just as much as we need God. She seemed most happy when talking about her faith and how it has been a major part in the pursuit of her dreams.
And it should be mentioned that Della elaborated a bit on the story of creation, explaining that that women were specially “designed by God” while men were just “made by God”; thus women are more special. Fair enough and the appreciative SmartTalk audience seemed to share in her theological perspective! She inspired with her entertaining stories and by sharing her calling as a minister, and at 80 years old she is still dreaming large.
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