lockdown

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Inspiration – Boy Do I Need It Bad

When you don’t have any inspiration, you don’t have much. 

inspiration - boy do I need it bad

Inspiration gives you the ingredients to make something. You can’t make anything or make something happen from a vacuum. 

 A vacuum sucks the life out of anything.

I remember back in about 1990, I got a new pair of skates called Vacu Tacks.

These skates were different than most. To get the right fit, you would put them on and the salesman would heat up the skates with a heat gun, like an industrial-powered hairdryer. It got so hot in the skates that you could hardly keep your feet in them. 

Then they zipped a special bag around each skate while the skates were still on your feet. With an air pump hose attached, they sucked all the air out of the bags, forcing the skates to form tightly to your feet.

… A vacuum is good for skates but not for inspiration.

Being in the lockdown here in Ontario is like being in a vacuum. I have no inspiration to write. You need something to give you inspiration, but with this vacuum there’s nothing. 

The last several weeks have proved the most difficult for writing these blogs since I started back in 2012.  

I’ve been writing this blog for nine years now and I have never found it very hard to come up with a topic to write about. There is usually something that happens that I can turn into a post. 

Right now there seems to be nothing happening. 

I have spent more time sitting, staring at an empty screen than I have writing. When I have something to write about, it usually generates more ideas. The main thought gives me inspiration and the words just flow.

The only vacuum that would give me inspiration right now is the food sealer I saw one time at Costco. That gadget was amazing! You could put anything in the bag and the air would be sucked out so that the bag formed tightly around the food. 

I thought we should get one, but Lily believed if you just put a straw in a bag, sucked the air out and quickly sealed it up, that would work just as well. 

Well, now that they are making straws illegal (an environment hazard), how is she going to make that work, I wonder. 

I’ve pulled things out of the freezer before and there were all kinds of ice crystals that clung to the food, like barnacles on the bottom of a ship. … At least there was something there. There had to have been some moisture inside that bag when we put it in the freezer. 

You may not like having to scrape freezer burn off the top layer of your ice cream either, but at least you have something to do. 

In space there is no air, but at least they can float. 

With the gravity here on earth, it’s like we are stuck on the ground but with the life sucked out of us. 

How can I write in those conditions? … I guess I found a way.

Here’s the thing: We need inspiration to write. The Bible was written by the inspiration of God on about 40 different authors from many different walks of life that spanned over 2000 years. You know a book like that had to have divine inspiration to stay consistent to the main theme and point to the one true hope: Jesus Christ. Now that is real inspiration. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s giving you inspiration these days? Leave you comments and questions below.

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A Road Trip May Reveal More Than Scenery

You can discover a lot from a road trip, especially if you keep the destination a secret.

a road trip may reveal more than scenery

The other day my wife, Lily, and I were looking for something to do during our current lockdown. 

We decided that we would head to Costco to get a few grocery items … not what I would normally think of when trying to come up with something to do. Shopping for groceries would be down near the bottom of my list of possible options. 

But the lockdown changes your perspective on things … besides, I thought I might be able to get a glimpse of some things I’m interested in. 

Normally I just browse and not buy as I stroll through Costco’s electronics section. But they did a great job stopping that; you couldn’t even window shop. They had skid loads of food items even blocking the view of some of the more eye-appealing inventory in the store.

With that option out of the way, we weren’t too long getting what we needed and headed out the door. 

The night was still young, the sun had not quite set, so I decided not to drive home. 

I decided to follow the sun. 

What do you do when you are locked down? We needed something different to do.

The sun was big – really big – deep orange and red filling the bottom third of the sky. 

So I just kept driving, driving towards the sun. I went by our turn and then I went by the next possible turn. 

Lily started questioning me. “Where are we going?” she asked. “I don’t know” I replied. 

We came to an intersection and she said, “Oh, turn down here”, but I kept going. She asked again where we were going and my reply was the same. 

She probably asked me a dozen times where we were going. 

By now the sun had set and there was only the glow of the sun on the horizon. We were quite a distance into the country by the time I turned around and started back down the road we had been driving on. 

Lily asked multiple times where we were going and gave me several commands to turn here or there. I could tell she didn’t like not knowing our destination. 

It was obvious that she was not satisfied with just going for a drive.

I pointed it out to her that she was all concerned about what was unimportant and was missing the enjoyment of the outing. 

That seemed to settle her down a bit. 

And what transpired during that little road trip was that we talked. We talked about several things we might not have talked about that night. 

We settled on a decision we were facing, that we probably would have put off in another setting – a setting like sitting in front of the TV watching some rehab addict rebuild the insides of an old home. 

That little road trip ended up being good and Lily never did find out where we were going. 

Here’s the thing: You can get in a rut with God where you don’t seem to be communicating very much. You aren’t saying much to Him and He doesn’t seem to be saying much to you. A change of venue can sometimes help. Start a conversation with the Lord in a different place, when you have time and no other distractions, when you are in an inviting environment to talk –  maybe a scenic spot, on a walk, or drive … maybe just a different place in your home. You may learn a lot from Him. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question:  Where are you most likely to open up to someone? Leave your comments and questions below.

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