Feeling “Inspired”

I love the Holiday Season. Thanksgiving and Christmas bring back memories of warmth in the midst of the cold, friends and family in the presence of loneliness, and giving to others in spite of a culture that tends to put themselves first (a topic for another blog).

For some, however, this season is a reminder of what’s been lost. It’s the empty seat at the table during a Thanksgiving feast, or the empty stocking that hangs on the mantle over the fireplace. For many of us, this season doesn’t bring the same level of “mystery and wonder” that it once did. Instead, it comes with an extra measure of grief and pain. This will be our fourth Christmas without our daughter Aly. We still hang her stocking over the fireplace – and will probably continue that tradition for as long as Michelle and I are living – but it’s still much too quiet around the tree on Christmas morning. We miss her laugh and the sparkle in her eyes as she watched her family open her gifts – she loved giving gifts (almost as much as she enjoyed getting them).

Our family is not the only family that struggles through this season. After having lost a child, we have been constantly surprised by how many families walk through this same pain every year. In some ways, it’s comforting knowing that you are not alone in this battle, but it’s also painful knowing that so many are fighting through discouragement, pain, and grief during a time that is meant to bring comfort, peace, and joy.

In fact, this season can be difficult for everyone, not just those that have lost a loved one. In my opinion, most of us struggle with feelings of loneliness, discouragement, and depression at some level. The holiday season just seems to magnify the emptiness that so many of us are feeling throughout the rest of the year. What do we do? Why do we feel this way?

Michelle and I over the last couple of years have been looking at this word “inspire.” We all love to be inspired. Inspiration fuels us to be better and to do more – to accomplish great things. But we don’t really think much about the word. In Latin, it literally means “to breathe on or into.”

In Genesis 2:7 it says,

"then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature."

We all walk through disappointment. For some of us it may be from a broken relationship, or marriage. Maybe it’s the loss of a job, or, as in the story of our family, maybe it’s the loss of a loved one. Whatever the situation is, we have a heavenly Father that breathes on us and gives us new life and a new hope.

The problem is that we’re not receiving HIS inspiration. Many of us choose to stay in the same old ruts and paths when our Father is inviting us into something more. When Jesus called His disciples in Matthew 4:19, He didn’t present them with a set of tasks, a strategy, or a five-year plan. He offered them a relationship: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The word that we typically translate as “follow” actually means “to come.” Jesus wasn’t just inviting them to be His disciples, His followers, He was inviting them into an intimate relationship. The invitation was to come – to be with Him. It wasn’t about the miracles they would perform, the sermons they would preach, or the places they would travel to. The entire journey started with the simple invitation to be with Jesus.

Mark explains this in Mark 3:14, “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach.”

I have many amazing memories of the 16 years that we lived in Turkey. One of my fondest memories was when we were invited into the home of a Kurdish family for dinner. After visiting in the living room for a while, the women brought a sheet and spread it out on the floor. Afterwards, they brought a big tray piled high with rice, chicken, beef, and other things. They set our plates and eating utensils on the sheet and gave each of us a pillow to sit on. We all gathered around the food, in close quarters and we ate for about an hour. It was not just a time to eat, but a time of fellowship. Afterwards, they brought out fruit and tea and then later dessert and coffee. We sat, or laid around the sheet for probably two hours talking, laughing, and eating. After we returned home that evening, the Lord began to speak to me. He reminded me of John the Beloved’s description of the Last Supper: “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.” John 13:23

It dawned on me in that moment that Jesus and His disciples where sitting on the floor eating. They were leaning on one another and they were connected intimately in fellowship. This was not a formal dining arrangement, these were a bunch of “Middle Eastern” men enjoying one another’s company. Jesus was washing their feet and John was leaning against Jesus – the others were probably leaning against each other as well. They were more than students. For three years, Jesus breathed life into them because they accepted His invitation to fellowship.

We’ve all been given the same invitation. It’s an invitation to the table. This table is not like other tables however. It’s a table of intimacy. It’s a table of fellowship. It’s a table of inspiration – where life is breathed on us and into us.

I think that is why the Psalmist so beautifully writes in Psalm 23:5a, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” The table is prepared “in the presence” of your enemies. Whatever you are walking through, whatever pain you are carrying, a table of intimacy has been prepared for you – in the midst of your situation and problem! You don’t have to carry everything by yourself. All you really need to do is take a seat at the table and lean into Jesus.

I hope that this season of thankfulness and celebration will find you leaning against Jesus and allowing Him to inspire you to greatness.

Peace.