We are inspired
Our third Core Value, Be Inspired, is not something we do, it is something that is done to us; but only if we are prepared to receive it. Our first two Core Values, Be Humble, and Be Eager, are what prepare us to receive the third. Being both humble and eager is the gift of a tenacious desire to improve in the areas we humbly recognize can be improved.
Inspiration comes from without
The word “inspired” is most often used in the sense of being motivated, encouraged, or moved by something outside of ourselves. However, the word’s origins give us a slightly different perspective. The word can be traced back to the Latin “inspirare”, which means “to breathe or blow into”. In the biblical sense, we know that when God created Adam in the Garden of Eden, He “formed man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7) The word for “breath” in Latin is spiritus, which is where we get the word “spirit” from, and so we see in Genesis that God gave Adam life by inspiring him with the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, and in that act of receiving the Holy Spirit Adam went from being dust to being an eternal creature made in the image and likeness of God.
Being mindful of our sources of inspiration
As architects, our inspiration can come from many sources. We may be inspired by a space we visit, a trip we take, a piece of art, a piece of cake, or a song by the alternative rock band Cake. Listen to “The Distance” by Cake and tell me you’re not inspired.
Wherever our inspiration comes from, it is clear that it comes from somewhere outside of ourselves. It is important, then, to be aware of our sources of inspiration, because inspiration can be both positive and negative.
The reciprocity of our core values
We started with a humble recognition of our unique strengths, followed by an eager pursuit of those strengths as a way of thanking God for giving them to us. But one of the great things about God is that He doesn’t need anything from us, so everything we give to Him, including our eager spirit, He turns around and gives back to us in the form of inspiration. Therefore, our core values are reciprocal in nature, we give back to God that which He has given to us, and He, in turn, gives it back in a way that moves us to accomplish more than we could ever have accomplished on our own.