Where’s the Religicalness?
I just saw my blog was touted as “religical inspiration” on Jason’s blog, which is a pretty tall order I’m certain I’ve not lived up to recently seeing as I haven’t been feeling particularly religical or particularly inspired lately.
What does it mean to be inspired? To have a sense of hope? To be moved by an emotional passion? To feel the force of an artistic drive?
I’ve been packing boxes recently in preparation for our move in two weeks. Packing is a very psychological process. Psychotherapy is often likened to an ‘unpacking’ –of old emotions and memories, of hidden fears, of deep needs– and the process of packing for a move is no less powerful. It brings me into direct contact with all the items I’ve collected and which represent what I’ve been and seen over time. Souvenirs from vacations and pictures of friends and family. I’ve been packing hundreds of pounds of books, which represent the thousands of hours of work I’ve poured into my education and life over the last ten years. Overall, it is a bit of a sad process which is forcing me to feel the loss of the old. This packing and putting away seems to reinforce just how far away and unrecoverable the past is, but it also highlights the opportunity and freshness of the future.
It is, in some ways inspiring, whatever that means. In a fit of religicalness, I’ve decided to do a word study. Bear with me.
The word ‘inspire’ really only occurs once in scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16, although the word is often translated ‘God-breathed.’ I expected the word to be a combination of two words, ‘God’ and ‘breath.’ I was only kinda right. The Greek word being translated inspire is the word ‘theopneustos,’ ‘theos,’ or God, is clearly in there, and ‘pneuma,’ or breath or spirit, looks like a contender as well. However (and I am relying on McReynolds here), an even closer word in the family from which the word ‘inspire’ is drawn is ‘plousios,’ meaning rich. So to make a long story short, inspiration refers to the state or process of being infused with the richness of God’s spirit. Wow. Tall order indeed.
Lucky for us humans, I think we can be so inspired in even the most mundane of our daily tasks. We can pack books in the richness of God, or make life changes in his richness. We can work, eat, play and so on in an awareness of the rich life we are given and which we display daily.
May God richly inspire my boxes and my move with the purpose he has for them. May he open my eyes to the richness he has already given me and for which he is still preparing me.
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Ah. I have missed the deeper thoughts as they relate to your inspiration by Him. So thanks to Mister Parks for motivating your latest post. Before I got to the word study part, I was guessing that inspiration was simply a (positive) influence that might come from anything or anyone. But, evidentally the proper definition gives credit only to God for true inspiration. May we all be inspired!
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I think the reasoning for the “religical inspiration” was in fact due to the nature of the title of your blog, which was in reference, and probably mockery, to the small group study material we were given, as well as the depth of the feel-good sermons.
As you have said, we can find God in it all. We can be inspired, better yet, God breathed, by events of both large and mundane. Continue in your good work Denise.
Friday night’s Mill service with pretty incredible and passionate. I will find the link to download it. search theMILL podcast on itunes
see you at the wedding. hope I am sitting by you and Paul
June 4th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Ha. I said I hoped you were sitting at our table too. At any rate, we’ll see you there.
I’d be interested to hear that link.
June 5th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Wow! What a compliment to have your blog labeled as “religical inspiration.” The best label that I came up for your blog is that it is like an “Orange Julius.” I was comparing mental concentration to fruit juice concentrate and said the following about your blogs: “Reading her blogs is like drinking an Orange Julius. She takes her concentrate and whips it up with the frothy tang of wit and sarcasm. Quite delightful!”
If we can “work, eat, play and so on in an awareness of the rich life we are given and which we display daily,” then maybe the person who came up with the Orange Julius was inspired and we can all enjoy that richness any day we want to spend $3.50 on a drink at the mall. Thank God for life’s little splurges after we’ve walked too far in heels that pinch our feet.
June 6th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Christina. Thanks for reading and thanks for a truly inspired response. It made me laugh. Why do we wear those shoes?