Be An Inspiration or Be Inspired

The question was posed. "Are you an inspiration to others or who inspires you?" It's taken me a few weeks to reflect on the question and come up with my perspective.

Am I an inspiration to others? I don't consciously think about doing something to be an inspiration to others. That seems to have an attitude of arrogance. Do I only want to do things so I can inspire someone else? The answer is a resounding "NO!" To do things this way seems self-centered with the focus on me and not on the action and the result. It shouts of "Hey, look at me! See what I did? Aren't I inspiring to you?" I should be doing things because of a higher road taken or because of a higher calling. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." When you take action because of these attributes, people will notice because of the attitude taken in doing things.

What inspires me are the selfless acts of compassion that are more prevalent than I think people realize. These are not magnanimous acts done to get attention, but private and intimate ones. I was having lunch at a food court recently at one of the local shopping malls. Sitting at a table across from me was a man with his back to me and a woman that appeared to be his wife in an electric wheelchair. The woman moved next to him and I noticed that her hands were deformed due to some debilitating muscular disorder. This caused her not to be able to feed herself, but the man selflessly and patiently did. I sat there watching them for several minutes, hoping not to get caught staring at them in this wonderfully private and intimate moment. I could only hope that if the same circumstances presented themselves to me that I could be as compassionate and inspiring.

Community and Friends

Jacob Morgan has defined community as "A collection or group of people who have something in common and interact". Notice there is no reference to a physical or geographic location. I believe in today's high tech world, that is no longer necessary. Today, our high tech community now is the internet, otherwise known as cyberspace.

I love Facebook and Twitter. They allow me to keep up with my community of friends. I have instant access to what's going on in my friends' lives through their posts, and they can see what's going on in mine as soon as I post information. My community stretches hundreds and thousands of miles into two different countries. I am sure there are others on these sites whose communities are global. We have interaction at all times of the day, but there is one component that I miss. It's called intimacy.

One of the pastors at my church, Jeff Maguire, gave a great message last night. He has a way of personalizing his messages, so that the key points stick with you long after the message is given. He shared about the characteristics of his local community. He lives in an area where the garages to the homes are on alleys. There are people of all ages and ethnicities in his community. He and his family recently returned from a trip and his Pakistani neighbors were gracious enough to invite them over for dinner. They also have a common policy where if their garage doors are open, neighbors freely walk in and visit. This happened recently when a neighbor dropped in and asked if Jeff's wife, Amanda was baking cookies. She wasn't, but she brought out what she needed and began to make cookies. There is trust and a level of intimacy in this community.

Trust is a major component in any relationship, whether it be in community like Jeff's, or on a more intimate level with friends. Jeff's community is an example of how a trusting, diverse community can interact safely. I think trust is an even greater characteristic in friendships. Now understand there is a difference between acquaintances and friendships. There is no intimacy in an acquaintance, but there are varying levels in a friendship. In a friendship, you expose yourself more, you become transparent. There is a level of intimacy that leads you to a deeper relationship where you can "call out" your friends and they can do likewise to you.

I've noticed that there is very little intimacy in social networks. I don't know that I would be posting things there that people I barely knew would be able to read. My aim is to make all my social network friends, true friends. I've been able to reconnect with people that I had lost touch with since my high school days over thirty-five years ago. Part of the process is to visit with them and reestablish the intimacy that I feel is necessary in a friendship. It's amazing to know that even after all that time, we picked up like we had just seen each other the week before. When real friendships are established, they endure time and distance.