Inspiration

Inspiration is a weird thing, isn’t it?

            Someone can say the same sentence to many different people, something like, “Stop and smell the roses” and many will roll their eyes, ignore the old saying, and go on with their day. And yet, every now and then, there is an individual who will take that saying to heart, and they will stop, for just a moment, and take the time to look at life around them. They will have been inspired by that saying to do something different than their usual, maybe something different than everyone’s usual.

            Of course, there are many different kinds of inspiration. There are books and songs meant to inspire people to do something differently, or to think in a different way, or to be a different way.

            There are sceneries that inspire people to write or to draw or to pray.

           

            I think basically anything can be an inspiration.

            Anything relatively innocent that, when looked at in a different light, can create a thought or an idea which can them bloom into a meaningful decision.

            Inspiration is a powerful thing. It has the power to change people, to change whole communities if the entire group gets inspired by the same thought. And it’s a very strange thing as well. Something ordinary can bloom inspiration, something that most everyone overlooks.

            And then there are inspirational people, people who stand away from the crowd, and they stand for what they believe is right. That doesn’t always mean that they’re standing on a stage yelling about how right they are. It just means that they live their life in a way that people can learn from, in a way that makes others examine their own lives… in a way that makes others want to change for the better.

            And I think the most inspirational people are people who don’t TRY to be inspirational. They’re the kind of people who simply live their life the way they believe God wants them to be living it; humbly, constantly trying to conform their lives to His Word.

            They’re the kind of people who love selflessly, who greet you with a smile and ask you how your day has been. They’re the individuals who leave their fingerprints all over a very small number of people. They’re the ones who really make a difference in other’s lives, and the reason they make a difference in that life is simply because they care.

            I think inspirational people are caring people. People who really make others want to be better are the kind of people who honestly care about ‘the other guy’.

            They are selfless, loving and kind.

            They are completely unaware that others look up to them; they are simply living life the way they believe is right.

            I have never been inspired to do, or to be, or to think anything different than my usual by a person who stands on a stage, or wears fancy clothes, or flashes fame like it belongs to them.

            Those people do not inspire me.

            The people in my life that have made me want to be better are people who have simply lived and loved. They are people who have filled my life, who have cared for me, who have cared about me. They are people who have most definitely left their fingerprints on my life and I will never forget them. They are the ones who have shown me, by example, that I can be better than I am; that if I look to God and trust Him, then He can shape me into a real Christian. I have a long way to go, but I will always have these people to look to for encouragement.

            Not many people are inspirational.

            Too many people are looking for fame, too many are looking for the title of ‘inspirational’ but they really don’t know what it means to inspire.

            No.

            The real inspiration for goodness comes from people who will not be remembered by society, but will never be forgotten by the lives that they have touched.