Spiritual Direction: Lighting the Fire of Inspiration in Our Hearts

Lighting the Fire of Inspiration

How do we practice lighting the fire of inspiration in our hearts?

There are days when I feel the heat from inspiration on my face. It may be warming my fingers on the keyboard or the back of my neck.

Then there are the days when nothing seems to spark inspiration for me. I try match after match and nothing seems to light.

Is there something wrong with the matches or the strip on the side of the box? Am I striking them at the wrong angle?

It can be a challenge for us to light the fire of inspiration. We work hard to light the fires within us and keep them burning.

There are so many ways inspiration can be extinguished in us. It can be blown out with a single breath or drowned with water. We may forget to feed the fire of inspiration with the fuel or air it needs.

It is easy for us to get caught up in inspiration when we are living with it. We feel like its heat and light are things we can never lose. Then, when inspiration is more elusive, we can feel like it is lost forever.

There is only so much we can do to inspire ourselves. It is people or ideas, or other things, outside ourselves which inspire us. We read about an example from history or we meet someone who embodies inspiration.

Sometimes inspiration requires patience. We need to sit listening and waiting for inspiration to ignite in our hearts.

It would be more convenient if inspiration were under our control. If only we could flip a switch to turn on inspiration when we wanted it. We would waste less time and be more productive.

How does inspiration work for you?

Lighting the Fire of Inspiration in Our Hearts

What lights the fire of inspiration in us? When are we inspired? How can we tell whether the fire of inspiration is burning within us?

My favorite dictionary tells me the word “inspire” comes to English from Middle English via Old French from late Latin. Originally meaning breathing in or breathing into, inspiration fills someone with the urge or ability to do something.

We talk about inspiration to move in a specific direction or make a certain decision. Some people inspire confidence or inspire the rest of us to take action. We may become inspired to behave in a particular way or develop personal qualities.

Inspiration can seem intangible or ethereal. We do not know how inspiration works, but recognize it when it happens.

We may struggle to determine the best way to move forward or solve a problem. Weighing alternatives and trying to predict possible outcomes can get us hopelessly lost. Our struggles continue until we tie ourselves in knots. We are not able to move forward and become tired and frustrated.

I often find it helpful to take a breath and allow the variables to calm down in my head. It is almost as if inspiration waits until I stop trying so hard.

My first step in lighting the fire of inspiration is often pausing my efforts to take a breath.

Breathing is not merely taking a break or wasting time. We give our hearts and minds an opportunity to realize what is being inspired in us.

It is not possible to force anyone or anything to inspire me. What inspires other people often does not inspire me.

We cannot force the fire of inspiration to spark into life within us.

Preparation for Lighting the Fire of Inspiration

Something outside our control often lights the fire of inspiration for us.

We prepare for inspiration even though we cannot determine when or how it will arrive.

People who make room in their lives for inspiration inspire me.

Inspiration is not the opposite of working hard or using our brains. The effort we put into struggling to understand fuels our inspiration.

It is not as if we can sit back and wait for inspiration to do our work for us. We cannot be completely dependent on the power of inspiration.

The fire of inspiration, when it is lit within us, needs a safe place to burn. We are building a strong fireplace so, when it strikes, we can put inspiration to work.

There have been times when the fire of inspiration has singed the hair on my arm, or my eyebrows. At other times I have waited and waited for inspiration to arrive.

Lighting the fire of inspiration in our hearts is not about becoming all or nothing. The balance we seek incorporates all the gifts we have to help us move forward.

We are not trying to become exclusively one thing or another. Our practice helps us prepare to do what we can.

There will be times when everything seems to fall into place almost effortlessly. At other times we will need to work through the night fitting the pieces together.

Lighting the Fire of Inspiration Again

It can be easy for us to assume how the fire of inspiration works.

We may want to believe inspiration feels like we are riding the top of a wave. Momentum will carry us along because we are doing what we are inspired to do.

There are times, I believe, when we will be inspired to work as hard as we can. The fire of inspiration emerges in us again as we are pressing as hard as we can.

The fire of inspiration burns within us and we refuse to allow setbacks to stop us.

There will be times when we are inspired to continue striking matches in the dark.

We cannot simply give up and walk away when we feel the fire of inspiration extinguished in our hearts. It may require us to take time for rest or reflection. We continue to work at lighting the fire of inspiration again.

How will we begin lighting the fire of inspiration within us again today?

Who will help us by lighting the fire of inspiration in us this week?

[Image by Nikki L.]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual director in Southern California. He is a recovering assistant district attorney and associate university professor, and is a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com and his email address is StrategicMonk@gmail.com.