I was recently struck by the idea of inspiration.  Of course I had to look it up and ponder it a bit further.  Building on Webster’s definition, I now define inspiration as that which animates and enlivens me … to the point of action.  It’s a thought, an encounter … a personal experience … that encourages me and emboldens me to something good … and perhaps to something amazing.

Inspiration brings with it a sense of something better…something greater, for me and perhaps for others.  An interesting dynamic of true inspiration, though, is that it always calls for something better FROM me.  That something isn’t necessarily mystical … and its not something completely foreign.  Rather it emanates from what’s already resident within.  It draws from who I am.  It calls me to live from a deeper place.  It calls me to live beyond the limitations I put on myself.   Inspiration calls me to take a risk … to put my true self out there … to live into my design and desires for life.

So what inspires us?   Often it arises from the best of a creative work or effort, like a song, a speech, a play, musical, a sunrise or simply the words of a friend.  Or it may come from the depth of a difficult experience like a disease, a job loss or a break-up.   Whatever its source, inspiration motivates us to pursue something better of ourselves, for ourselves and for others.   It stirs and encourages us (fills us with courage) to change … and to act … often differently than we have in the past.

I have to chuckle at some of the places from which we …well, or at least from where I, draw inspiration.  I recently watched the movie Scrooged.   In it, Bill Murray’s character, Frank Cross, lives through a relatively current day experience of Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carrol, as he’s visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.  The ghosts are brought to him to shake him from his calloused, self-seeking approach to life, business, relationships, money … well, everything.  In essence, the ghosts come to inspire him to live better …to live differently.  And … in true Dickens’ (and Hollywood) form, Frank Cross got the message.  He was inspired to change.  And, once he recognized his need to change, he sought to inspire others with these words …

“It’s Christmas Eve.  It’s the one night when we all act a little nicer.  We smile a little easier.   We share a little more.  For a couple of hours we are the people we always hoped we would be.  It’s really a miracle because it happens every Christmas Eve.  You have to take a chance and get involved.   … And if you give, then it can happen, the miracle can happen to you.  Everybody’s gotta have this miracle!   … You won’t say, ‘Christmas is once a year and it’s a fraud.’  It’s not!  It can happen every day!  You’ve just got to want that feeling!  You’ll want it every day!  It can happen to you!”       – Excerpts from Scrooged movie featuring Bill Murray, Written by Mitch Glazer & Michael O’Donoghue.  Script via Drew’s Script-O-Rama

Christmas season tends to be a time where we do act a little nicer and do a much better job of loving the rest of humanity around us.  What is it about Christmas that makes us recognize our bond with each other …with the simplicity of respect, grace … and love?   What is it that compels us to get out of our comfort zones to interact with others and to show a bit more kindness?  What is it about Christmas that inspires us to be a better version of ourselves?  (I have my answers … but what are yours?)

As Frank Cross suggests, what prevents us from living beyond the moments of this day or this season to take respect, grace, kindness and love along with us every day?  My hope for you this Christmas and New Year’s season is that you would experience the inspiration to do something bigger … something better … for just one person in your sphere of influence. Take one person, one moment, just one act, and live inspired for that one individual for that one moment in time.  Give them the gift of you living fully into yourself … and … in turn, give yourself the gift of living fully into yourself.

Ultimately … my hope and prayer is that regardless of the day of year it is, you find yourself seeking that opportunity to live inspired.  May you live inspired … and through your living inspired, may you give others the gift of you…and the gift of respect, kindness, grace and love.