What Inspires You?

Everyday as we move through this life, we have the chance to be inspired. Today, I ask you what inspires you?

Feel free to take 5 minutes and write about your sources of inspiration. Breathe deeply as you write. Feel them in the depth of your soul. There are no wrong answers.

My Present Inspiration

My inspirations change as rapidly as clouds racing across the sky. Each one carries my soul to a higher place every time I allow them in. Presently, my inspiration is focused on Notre-Dame de Paris.

Four years ago, as I rode a train to a conference in Seattle, my daughter and I received word that Notre Dame was engulfed in an inferno. We were horrified. As we rode along, we watched as flames, smoke, and char tore at her on our phones. Our hearts hurt. I had visited her twice in my life. The most recent visit had been a few years before the fire.

Perhaps it was because I was born in France. Or because I love old churches and cathedrals. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. The more she burned, the more the fire felt like a metaphor for life.

As I see it, we all touch our highest self in unexpected moments. Those moments never seem to last long enough. Pretty soon we are torched with disappointment and its weighty companions. Hope can feel lost.

Faith and Love

Fortunately for Notre Dame and us, all was not lost. While the flames raged, people all over the world began to offer donations of time, skills, materials, and funds to restore her. They were acts of sincere faith. In that moment it was unclear if there would be any cathedral to restore. However, The Lady of Paris Cathedral would not be easily destroyed.

Over her long life, from her infancy in 1163 to the present, she has battled centuries of turmoil and stood tall through all of them. Making her a valiant beacon of resilience and resurrection. William Ernest Henley wisely wrote in his stirring poem Invictus,

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be,

For my unconquerable soul.

Three days from now, her eight large bells will ring again, signaling the next rebirth of Notre Dame de Paris. In a way they chime the potential of rebirth for any soul who craves hope.

This is my recent inspiration. What is yours?