Inspiration Can Never Be Rushed

Sometimes the inspiration just won’t come. I look for it, I seek it out, and I just can’t seem to touch it.

I hate those times.

I don’t understand why I can’t seem to catch just a glimmer of inspiration in those seasons. For I know it’s all around me. Inspiration is in the beauty on my children’s faces and the smell of my husband’s cologne. It’s in the vastness of the sky, and the wind that blows the trees. Inspiration is in the smell of a delicious meal, and the grip of a tiny newborn’s hand.

It’s all around us. It’s IN us. It’s before, and behind us. God uses us to inspire one another and He uses His creation.

So why does it elude us at times? Why do we fail to feel what we know is all around us?

Is it because we have saturated ourselves with so much noise, busyness, and frenzy that we can’t sit still, be still, and just KNOW that He is God? That He is good?

Is it because we need to feel adrenaline race in our veins and have forgotten how to feel the small whispers and tender caresses of love, faithfulness, honesty, and integrity?

Perhaps we look for inspiration simply to get a job done. A task achieved. A check marked off of our list. Instead of getting inspiration in our heart and lives to be INSPIRED. To feel JOY. To feel alive, beautiful, loveable, and loved?

To be inspired is to see what is often unseen by the world. To feel what doesn’t need to be expressed. To understand without using words. To create with the heart.

It IS there. It is everywhere. We just need to slow, pause, feel, and let it overcome us. Let it teach us. Show us. And lead us.

For inspiration can never be rushed.

Moving the Line of What is Acceptable

I was talking to my girls a few years ago about music. We were downloading some new songs from Itunes and one of my daughter’s was asking me what some of my favorite current hits were. I finally mentioned one that I liked, but was hesitant to buy because of the singer’s reputation.  She told me, “That has a bad word in it.” Really? I hadn’t even noticed. She told me if I listened carefully that I would very clearly be able to hear it. Which brought up a short little discussion on content in songs.

When I was growing up (yes, I can’t believe I’ve relegated myself to using those lines!)…I informed my daughter that bad language in music wasn’t allowed on radios. Now, it’s commonplace.

Why do you think that is?

I think it’s because we’ve allowed it. We’ve desensitized ourselves to what is bad and what is okay. 

Say you have a song that is really vulgar. Everyone is in an uproar about it. But then another song comes out that isn’t quite as bad and so it’s allowed. Then down on the road, more songs come out. Some push the limit, others go back to that one song that was a little “edgy” but allowed and so they too – are allowed, because “hey” – they aren’t “as bad” as the other songs.  This continues for a while until you start having a market saturated by songs that once would have been deemed “unacceptable.” The line keeps moving. And it’s moving in the wrong direction. Instead of starting back where we didn’t allow any of these words, thoughts, or actions; we’ve allowed them in small doses because they aren’t “quite as bad” as some others out there. But the limit keeps getting pushed to worse and worse – more vulgar and more vulgar and so the ones that aren’t “as bad” also keep getting pushed because everyone thinks they are tame “in comparison.”

Just what is “our comparison?”

Whether it’s movies, music, commercials, television, news…whatever….we’ve allowed the line of what is acceptable to continue to move, when in reality it should be back where it started. No bad language. No untruths. No demeaning of people. No sex. The list goes on and on.

For me – God’s Word is what I hold everything in comparison to. His Word never changes. It was relevant yesterday and it will be relevant tomorrow. It doesn’t get to be “old fashioned.” It’s amazing that way.  His values and morals are for our protection. And the line of what is and is not acceptable never moves or changes.

I need to hold what I listen to, see, think, and act upon – on His Word. Always. Just because something is “less bad” doesn’t mean it’s good. That fact will never change…no matter what society does or does not allow.

Sing Like a Bird

One of my favorite things in the summertime is to wake up with an open window and hear the birds outside chirping and singing away. I love it so. It lends a whole cheer and tone to my day from the very beginning.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a “sad” bird song. They always seem to have melody in their voices and a smile in their song. I like that. I think we could learn from that.

When we wake up and start each day, it is a gift. After all – God sustained us through the night and saw fit to let us live another day. That is one reason to wake up smiling and singing.  We also have the chance to live each new day “right.” We have another chance to say the right thing, think the right thing, act in the right circumstance and do it with the right heart and motivation… and love from a heart that is right with God.

Each new day is a fresh start. A new beginning. Another chance to be who we want to be. That is cause to sing is it not?

They say you can wake up on the wrong side of the bed. I think that’s true. But I don’t think I’ve seen a bird do that. They seem to wake up with a song in their heart. They are focused on the day and the job with which they are set out to do. Whether that’s building a nest, guarding eggs, bringing food to their young – whatever. They do it with cheer and focus.

If we have the right intentions and motivation, we too, can feel happy each morning that we wake up. We can have a song on our tongue, a smile on our lips, and cheer in our heart. Just like the birds.

It's Compromise, That's What It Is

My girls were on Itunes one day loading up on some songs with a gift card they’d gotten. Since they don’t get to do that often, they were excited.

They had a list all ready for me to look over the lyrics and approve their song choices. But one song on there, we’d already discussed that I wouldn’t let them get. They were still trying to get it past me because they really liked the song.

The song wasn’t awful in and of itself. I mean, it could have been a little bit cleaner but it wasn’t horrid. My issue with it was one “D” word. One “D” word.

My girls didn’t understand. They don’t say that particular word, and were aware of its presence, but still wanting the song because it was only “one word.”

My issue is this.: It’s more about compromise than it is even about the word. And compromise always starts small. It starts with one word. One low cut top. One drink. One lie to mom. And we rationalize to ourselves that it’s “only one.”

But what it is, is its compromise of our values and morals.

So if this song has only one bad word – is it then okay to get another song with only one bad word? And another and another? Pretty soon – how many songs on their iPod do they have of bad words that they are constantly hearing in their heads?  How do they know when to stop? Do they stop at just ONE song with ONE bad word? Or do they rationalize that they have that one song and they feel they are okay so it’s okay to get another song and then be okay?

No. Because we can’t always draw a line for ourselves. We move our own lines out of lack of self control. Our wants and desires grow stronger than our limits on ourselves. That’s why we have to have boundaries in place ahead of time and stick to them. We have to have morals and standards by which we choose to live.

It may just be “one word” to them now – but I’m hoping to show them how it’s really one compromise. One compromise too many.  For compromise is always a slippery slope. One that I don’t want them to ever stand on.