Last week I was trying to focus on about 10 too many things! I knew I was leading up to our last Inspire event of the year and for several weeks, I kept thinking of ways I could sum up this last year of Inspire. I wanted to give an overview and explain the heart of what I tried to accomplish through all of our events and outreaches. To no avail. I could not articulate an accurate enough description of what I had been trying to accomplish.
Our event came and went and I could not give the kind of description I wanted to give. The event went amazing and our guests were awesome. I was pleased that it did what it was suppose to do. Bring awareness and opportunities for action.
However, I was left with an empty feeling that I was not able to articulate a clear enough description of what Inspire had meant to me. I left thinking maybe I wasn't meant to explain and share with everyone what had taken place in my heart over the year since I wasn't even sure what had taken place.
I went on from Friday night and didn't think much about it until Sunday morning when this clip was played as an opening to our pastor's message. The clip opened with words "Inspired by true stories" and a million of emotions flooded my heart as I realized that countless numbers of people had taken this same journey as I have been on these past few years, yet I never realize what I had been trying to do...Take a moment to watch this clip by Linkin Park. It is a powerful video is a story of what this little boy did with the pain and loss of his dad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScNNfyq3d_w
Isacc Newton was quoted as saying "For every action, there is an opposed and equal reaction". Such a true and applicable statement for things well beyond science.
The very word Inspire means to stir, to motivate, to animate, to influence by divine power.
After meeting so many amazing people this year I began to realize that we are all trying to bring something from something. All trying to bring action from an action that has happened in our lives. Sometimes we choose a negative action but sometimes we are divinely inspired to bring a positive action or change. A God inspired action.
To Inspire, you must be inspired. I have learned that the majority of things we choose to do in life, is a direct relation and/or reaction to something that has happened to us in our lives. We are so many times compelled to make a difference because there was something we felt was wrong that we needed to make right. From one action we are inspired to take another action. We set out on a quest to do something, bring meaning, make a point, bring purpose, bring healing and many times bring closure.
When we are faced with enormous trials in life we have a choice. We choose to shrink back and become bitter or we choose to stand up fight through it, turn it around and become inspired to bring meaning out of a horrible event in our lives.
As I watched the video, I realized that so many times this year I wanted to prove a point to myself, that not all was lost in my life. That even in brokenness and pain, God could still use this life of mine...but now at the end of this year of Inspire I have come to realize that it wasn't that He could use my life despite my brokenness and pain...He could use my life because of my brokenness and pain. I have come to realize that my focused, myopic and, at times, unrelenting drive to make a difference in this world didn't happen because I was talented or any more special than anyone else. It was because, from the action of loss in my life, I so desperately wanted God to bring His opposite and equal reaction from that event. I have somehow wanted God to work through me to bring life from that death I felt so deeply. I have met so many people this year all inspired by that same motivation.
Isn't that the very nature of God though? Bringing life from death. Such the beauty of who He is.
I am and will be on this quest for life. Asking God to bring meaning from both the deep loss and the mundane events of life. From changes to monotony, in all things I want Him to Inspire me to get up and do something, make a difference, be the change and live the life He created me to live, cracked glass, pain, joy and all of it together for Him!
Be inspired to do the same....
