Finding Inspiration, Speech Example

Good evening. It is a privilege to be here tonight. I believe what I have to say is something of real value, and it is something that concerns absolutely everyone here tonight. Tonight’s subject knows no age or any other barrier because it is about that thing behind dreams, behind achievement, and behind everything good anyone ever does. This subject has caused some extraordinary evolutions in the history of humanity, and it has been responsible for a single smile on a single face. My subject is your subject. It is inspiration and the road to finding it.

The more I think about inspiration and how we all seek to be inspired by the world around us, the more I find I am thinking about love. More exactly: If there are any two things it seems that everyone is looking to find as they move through life, they are inspiration and love. Everyone wants to feel a passion about something, just as everyone wants a more specific passion for, and from, somebody else. So I think about these two universal endlessly elusive ambitions being chased down by all of us everywhere we go. What I have come to realize is that both have a great deal less to do with what we are seeking than with what we are bringing to the pursuit.

Ask yourself about love. Ask yourself about that uncanny unmistakable feeling when a powerful personal connection happens. Then ask yourself about inspiration, the things that touch your spirit and create in you desires to try to do, and to be. What do these achievements have in common? They both rely completely on what you are and what you yourself have to offer. Being inspired and being in love cannot happen without the opening up of all that you are, to be ready and accepting of what it is that you need. They both require a soul that is curious and interested in that which is beyond itself and eager to share what it already has in its possession. They both demand a sincere and consistent ability of appreciation and an authentic impulse of true generosity. Most importantly, they both demand not taking but giving.

I believe it is all too easy to miss this simple reality, as I believe that missing it is why so many of us stumble along thinking that if we are lucky, we will run into the inspiration we so badly want. The truth is that the inspiration cannot even be seen by us if we are not truly prepared to take it in. God brings everything to us and sets it all before us, and His will is that we employ the will He gave to each of us. His gifts are many and vast, but they must be recognized first. Inspiration then depends as much upon our sight and what we do with it, as to why we desperately seek it. It is the thing waiting to be done, the gift to be seized, and the spirit waiting to be felt. It cannot exist, really, until we meet with it and give it shape and direction.

When I think about what inspires me, I feel, above all, that I am fortunate. Somehow, and in a way for which I cannot properly account, it seems that this world surrounding me here at school is as inspiring as we hope the greater world outside it is. Inspiration comes to me when I talk to fellow students, and sparks of their own spirits and interests touch my being. When I pass by a random act of kindness being committed, I am as inspired as if I had just discovered my faith all over again. When students I know seize on an idea that excites them, that moment explodes as inspiration for me, as the education guiding my course here offers avenue after avenue of fresh inspiration. To be a student is to be always ready to accept what is new to you, so inspiration awaits in every lesson. Then, even the ordinary daily efforts of the personnel here touch me in this way. There is nothing sensational about investing every day the efforts needed to keep the school running as it should. At the same time, and taken in at the right moment, there is a simple beauty in this as well. To perceive inspiration as an inherent “flash of light,” or glorious burst of insight, is to mistake the real quality of it. It is everywhere. It is in the books, in a stray sentence from a professor, in an overheard conversation in a hallway, and in the sunlight falling on the grass of the campus. It is wherever I look, as long as I am prepared to see.

Like love, then, inspiration is all about discovery, and the willingness we maintain to be open to it. Like love, it will probably never show itself if we pursue it as a commodity we wish to capture. I do not believe that inspiration lies within ourselves, necessarily, but I firmly believe that we possess the powers that can identify it, give it meaning, and actually make it inspiration. There is no more human and elevating process in the world because even love belongs to this astounding equation. To those wanting to see inspiration, I say: stop looking. Stop trying. Instead, see what is in front of you all the time and see what you can bring to it because this is where the magic of inspiration occurs. You will know you are inspired when you are the force within the inspiration itself.

One other thing: strangely, sometimes we run from the thing we have been seeking, and the inspiration opens up possibilities that give us pause. In plain terms, we get afraid; and we usually invent excellent reasons for not moving forward. Inspiration means something new, something not yet tried, and we turn our backs to it. Fearful, we retreat. Uncertain, we decide that nothing is worth risking that we already have. When this happens – and it happens all the time – remember that something in you wanted that next step in the journey. You were waiting to be inspired, you made the effort to see the inspiration, and you must move forward because letting it pass you by does not translate to staying as you were. It means going backwards. That is the law of physics in human matters: When we stay put, we fall behind because life keeps advancing all around us. This leads me to exhorting you, beyond anything else, to realize that the inspiration sparking you is always a kind of a star. It asks only one thing from you, even as it promises so much: follow. Trust me: God sets stars before us for a very good reason. That we follow is, make no mistake, His will.

Our life’s journey does not end with graduation. We have the rest of our lives in front of us, be they long or short. Life is too precious to waste even one minute of it or to go in the wrong direction. There will usually always be options, sometimes too many of them. The importance of choosing wisely cannot, however, be stressed strongly enough.

We all have a past already, a past that will only enlarge. At some time, we may begin to wonder where life went. It seemed to have gone by in the twinkling of an eye. We cannot believe that retirement is here already. We realize we squandered our youth and middle-age years living in the fast lane, having a “good” time and trying to be popular (hopefully not!). We squandered our modest earnings and lost our spouses and children in the process. They seemed like such a burden until we did not have them anymore. After trying in vain to save the family unit, they moved on. We often do not know what we have until we lose it. Then can come the wishing that we had done certain things and not done other things. The Lord can still turn our life around if we but ask him. He transformed my life with his unfailing love and grace. At any age, it is hoped that the past has taught us valuable lessons, but we cannot let it control our lives. Most things in our past have to—and should—stay there or else the past controls both the present and the future. Try to remember Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quotation, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” If what lies within us is the Holy Spirit, not too much can go wrong. We may stray once in awhile, but I believe that as we are falling, the Lord will either catch us or teach us to fly.

I was fortunate to have had parents who taught me how to make wise choices, although this was not always appreciated at the time. Today, however, I realize as never before what a gift they were and how they helped me make good choices in life and with the help of God gave me the courage to follow my dream, one that is grounded in the love of God. Even though I have lost my father, I can still feel his presence daily. At such times, I sometimes think of Wayne Dyer’s well-known quote, “The more you extend kindness/love to yourself, the more it will become your automatic response to others.” It is very difficult to love others, if you do not love yourself.

Dear graduates, we have completed this phase of our education. We are about to go our separate ways. Has everybody here decided what the next step will be? Do you want this to be the end of your formal education—at least for now? If that is really what you want and you feel that your education is sufficient to get you a job you want and one that pays enough to help raise a family and have some left over for some healthy recreation of which our Lord would approve, then my best wishes to you. However, if you are allowing fears of the unknown to stop you from furthering your education, just know that it’s natural to be afraid. It has often been said that some of the bravest people were afraid. Sometimes a bit of fear gets our adrenalin flowing so that we have the drive and energy to do what needs to be done. There are many ways to keep fear at bay, but none better than the love of family, friends, and God. It says in the Bible that He will never leave you nor forsake you. It is also said in the Bible to honor thy God, mother and father; and I am so happy to do that. If money is a problem to further pursuing your education, have you truly searched out all the legitimate avenues of obtaining a grant or a scholarship, or a low-interest loan? Often persistence pays off. And if you become successful, remember the saying, “Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with.”

Before I end my message, I want to leave you with a few timely lines from Mahogany; namely, “Do you know where you’re going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to? Do you know?” And, finally, some wonderful lines from the Sound of Music, written by Richard Rodger and Oscar Hammerstein II that so frequently go round and round in my heart and mind. “Climb Every Mountain, Search high and low; Follow every byway, every path you know. Climb every mountain, ford every stream. Follow every rainbow, ‘till you find your dream! A dream that will need all the love you can give every day of your life for as long as you live.”