A new mate of mine who is over from America on a working/study holiday with his fiancé, asked me the other day if I had any hidden talents. Outside of what is listed on this website which he was already aware of, I didn’t really know what to say, so I said that I loved making coffee. But I didn’t get a chance to return the question his way to find out his. This week, however, we became friends on Facebook and I found out that he has a blog and that his hidden talent is his incredibly eloquent writing! I started to read some of his work – his most recent post on coffee (which I enjoyed immensely) and some of his stories of his relationship with his girlfriend/fiancé. But then I stumbled upon this post on finding your passion and your calling (click here to have a read – while you are there, check out his other work!).
Within this blog post, I found this gem:
Don’t try to change the world, but instead find something you love to do and do it every day. Through that and the passion that comes from that, the world will change.
Austin ‘Cliff’ Bowles
I used to blog as a pastime when I was unemployed and a lot of people have said that I should get back to it. Although I will probably never be as eloquent as Austin, he has inspired me to write this post and restart
my blog.
Inspiration. I often find it hard to be inspired. I don’t very often feel like I am glowing with inspiration, like we often see in cartoons when the lightbulb dings next to the characters head when an idea dawns on them.
Inspiration can be hard to come by when we feel like we are living monotonous lives. Our world is populated by TV shows that are all remakes of the previous ones, music which has the same old beat and same chord progressions and art which looks like someone has vomited on canvas.
If I am not inspired, how can I expect to be inspiring to others?
Well, that is just it. If we want to be inspiring to others, we must get inspired! So then, how do we do that?
- Take yourself outside of your normal life
We are all busy people. We are always on the go. Work. Social gatherings. Church. Ministry engagements. Kids soccer games. Dinner parties. Date nights. Life. But I find that the times when I get most inspired are when I take time out to stop what I normally do and do things differently. This might look different for everyone. But let me give you some examples that work for me.
- Find a local park or reserve and take a walk.
- Get a coffee and sit at a table by yourself. (This is weird at first, but trust me – it’s great)
- Listen to instrumental music while lying on the couch.
You may have other ways that help you but the point here is to enable you to think. Take in God’s creation and what he has done for you. This could lead you to reading a passage from the Bible if you feel lead. I often find that listening to instrumental music reminds me of my grandparents who are no longer with us and the qualities they saw in me which in hindsight I have seen that I have grown in.
If it helps you to journal or write down things that you have reflected on – by all means, do that. The value in stopping, waiting, or pausing is immense – I encourage you to try it out for yourself and see what works for you!
- Find your passion and watch/follow someone who does it better
Let me use my guitar playing as an example. I started playing guitar when I was eight. I wanted to play because I was inspired by some great guitar players who I watched each week at church. Now, as a guitar teacher myself, I use YouTube to watch the masters of my craft such as Joe Satriani and Mike Dawes to become inspired to try new things and better my skills.
As a worship leader at church, I constantly watch other worship leaders to get ideas and improve for the next time I lead worship. I learn best by watching and doing so this is how I go about improving on my passions. For you, maybe having a coffee with someone who shares your passion might be a way to workshop your ideas or find new ones. Often talking to different people, even about the same topic, can be very rewarding and may not only inspire you – but will deepen your relationships with friends. If it helps to inspire you again, revisit Austin’s quote above.
The idea here is not to see someone better than you and give up, thinking you will never be as good as them. The idea is to watch/listen, learn and improve. And then again – watch/listen, learn and improve. There will never come a time in which you will know everything there is to know about something, you can always learn more!
- Don’t get frustrated – it takes time!
Inspiration isn’t the result of one minute’s reflection. Inspiration isn’t the result of one conversation. Inspiration takes time.
Frustration creeps in when we try to rush. I find I get more frustrated in things that I am not so good at. Writing this post for example – it has taken much perseverance to see it through to the end because I find it very difficult to express exactly what I want to say. There are paragraphs that I have written which you are not reading because I have deleted them because I was not happy with how they sounded or the implied message they portrayed. But that is okay – I persevered through that and have posted this for you now to read.
I often find this in my sermons that I write or in my Bible College assignments as well. You may find frustration in other things. Whatever it is – name it and persevere in it. There is no use in giving up, but there is use in giving it up to God in prayer and asking for His help to persevere. I guarantee that He will answer your prayer.
Peace.
– Mike
What I’m reading: The Book of Acts, The Book of 1 John, Shall We Tell The President? (J. Archer)
What I’m listening to: Payable on Death (P.O.D. album), Satellite (P.O.D. album)