We begin the academic year with September. A month to learn and enjoy learning. To be inspired.
This word "inspire" descends from the Latin word "inspirare" which means to "breathe into." The Greek adjective "theopneustos," also translates to "breathed-out," or more literally, "breathed into by God."
We read in Genesis that God gave life to the world and to humankind by breathing his spirit into it. God "inspired" the world and all who live in it. Do you know the colloquial phrase Loved people love? Today I add my own to the list: Inspired people inspire. We have the power to inspire others because we were inspired.
Many people believe inspiration to be a fleeting experience: a momentary glimpse of something wondrously compelling. We believe that inspiration expires quickly, and that we must rush to be captured by it. According to the Oxford Dictionary, inspiration is not a fleeting experience. It is a process. "The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially something creative." Though arduous at times, this process is valuable because it builds our character and reveals what is most important to us.
Truly inspired people commit themselves to the pursuit of what is wondrously compelling thing. They are willing to risk disappointment and uncertainty to behold more of what was momentarily glimpsed. They are willing to walk the long and narrowed road toward what inspired them.
What are you willing to walk the long way for? What inspires you? Is it religion? Faith? Family? A dream, or career aspiration? How far will you follow the flash of a yet-unrevealed glory?
Consider the journey you are on now. What does the road look like? What kinds of things inspire you? Are these inspiratory things leading you in the direction that you want to go?
Let September be a month of re-evaluation. Be thoughtful in your assessment on who or what inspires you, for inspiration will control the direction of your life if left untended. Be mindful about the steps that you make (and where you go) in "that defined, defining process of stimulation." Move slowly through each step, making time to stop along the way. For as the poet W. H. Davies writes: "What is this life if / full of care / we have no time to stand and stare?"
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