Inspiration

I’m beginning my new year by taking advantage of the coolest gift I received for Christmas…inspiration.

I could attribute it to a couple of specific people, but I’ll instead say it was God giving the gift through them.

I met some really cool people in New England this Christmas…extended family, friends of my wife. One of them in particular brought the inspiration to a climax. It came in the form of drumsticks.

No, I’m not talking about chicken, I mean literal drumsticks. Size 7A, to be exact…those are lighter sticks, typically used to play jazz and so forth (and you all know how much I love jazz).

This new friend has a couple of drum kits in her basement. Well, it’s a little known fact that I entered the world as a drummer. It’s something I left behind in my early college days, and have mourned and secretly yearned for ever since. So I immediately had to get behind the kit and play. Karen was caught somewhere between shaking her head at me (“Boys and their toys”) and smiling, because she (like most of my friends today) has never heard me play.

Well, rusty and clumsy as it was, it was no end of fun. See, I left behind the concept of being a musician long ago. It was one of the things I felt I had to sacrifice in order to do the things that I had to do. Writing fell in the same category. Ironically, two of the things I have always been most passionate about, things that made me who I am, things that God used to sign His signature on me, I’ve left behind for the trappings of professional success.

So, my New Year’s resolution? Screw success!

I tendered my resignation from the side job that has faithfully brought me income through grad school to leap out into the unknown, hoping He will take over. I’m planning to make a living writing instead of doing it as a hobby, and now is the time to make that experiment. I’ve met so many people recently who don’t hold to the concept that you have to sell your soul to a corporation for 40 hours each week in order to live. That pioneering spirit has proven contagious. Granted, I may end up writing for a corporation (God does have a sense of humor), but I’m hoping I can cut it as a freelancer.

And I’m buying a drum kit. Why not? Everyone needs a hobby. Who knows…

Oh yeah, and I made resolution to get into the gym again…we’ll see how that goes…

I said a few posts ago that this year I plan to focus on my spirituality, to find out where God is taking me on my life journey. I think that it begins here. I’m inspired, to leave the things that have bogged me down, and to become who He really made me to be. I think that it is only then that I will discover my true niche in the world.

And, hey, the most interesting people in the world are the ones who don’t know what they’re going to do next, right?

2007, here I come!