During recent travels, I have spent a couple of nights at a hotel chain whose key cards are imprinted with the message, “stay inspired.” Even though the brief message on the card is part of a much larger marketing campaign, I found that those two words and that simple message truly resonated with me.

In fact, I now have those two words taped where I can see them while I am seated at my desk.“Stay inspired.” It’s a good reminder to all of us that we need to stay connected with that power or source that keeps us motivated to do what is important to us.

Originally, to inspire meant the act of breathing in or breathing upon. It means to have an animating effect upon, to influence, or to impel. To inspire is to cause, to stimulate, or motivate.

And at a deeper level, to be inspired can mean being moved by a divine influence. So, inspiration can mean being breathed into by the divine.” That is powerful, and something I both need and want continually.

Ending hunger in our lifetime is the right thing to do. We know it’s possible, but that alone will not make it happen. To end hunger in our lifetime requires hard work, with failures and setbacks as well as victories.

To end hunger in our lifetime requires passion, commitment and a sustained effort by all of us who care. We will end hunger. But to eradicate hunger will require that all of us stay inspired.

There once was a mystic deep in prayer. As he prayed there passed before him the lame, the hungry, the blind, the neglected, the homeless and the poor.

The mystic was deeply distressed and cried out in anguish,

“O Creator and Loving God, how can You be a loving God and yet allow such suffering? Why do You not help these who are in such need?”

After a moment a voice came to the holy man.

“I have done something about them… I made you.”

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has a genius, power and magic in it.”

I completely agree with this quote of Johann Wolfgang von Gothe. Boldness has a power in it that can change the world

Ending hunger is the right thing to do, and we all know it is possible. What we need is simply to get off our collective buts, and do it.

Begin it. Begin today. Let’s work together to create a world without hunger. Begin with a holy boldness, knowing that together we can heal our broken world. All we have to do is to begin.

The vision of Stop Hunger Now is a world without hunger. Join with us to make it happen. Begin today. And become a leader in changing the world.

Knowing that I am considering self publishing the book I am completing, Shannon Giles, the Administrative Director for Stop Hunger Now, recently forwarded me an email with a link to a young self published author who has already made over $2,000,000 through self publishing.

What struck me most about the piece was that the young lady who had made the $2 million was not an overnight success. She had written over a dozen books, all of which failed to find a publisher. Undeterred she kept writing, and eventually turned to self publishing.

There’s a far deeper lesson here than just self publishing works. And the young author stated it herself. She said she was inspired by something she heard from Mark Hoppus of the band Blink-182.

“He said that it’s not enough to have a passion — you have to have a work ethic,” she says. “That’s been the most life-changing advice that I got, because I had a passion for writing — and I know a lot of other people do, too — but it’s not enough to just want something. You have to be able to work for it, too, and put in the hours and the time.”

There are so many of us who have a deep passion for eradicating the obscenity of hunger in our world. And while that is truly commendable, it isn’t enough. It’s not enought to want the hungry to be fed. We have to work for it.

Stop Hunger Now is committed to doing everything in our power to end hunger in our lifetime. We have the work ethic to make it happen. Please join with us to make it happen. Working togething, we can change the world forever.

Searching for happiness is something familiar to all of us. There are libraries full of books on the subject. Checkout counters in almost every grocery store have racks filled with magazines full of articles on how to make your significant other happy or how to find happiness for yourself. 

All of us are interested in being happy and in helping those we love find happiness. Where can happiness be found? What is that one ingredient that will insure real and lasting happiness?

One of my favorite poets, the great Indian mystic, Rabindranath Tagore, had an answer that I really like. Tagore wrote,

I slept and I dreamed that life was happiness. I awoke and saw that life was service. I served and found that in service happiness is found.

I am attracted to Tagore’s understanding of how to find happiness because this is exactly what I have experienced in my own life. Searching for happiness is a waste of time. I have never been able to find happiness by looking for it.

The shortest path to happiness, and even beyond happiness, to deep and lasting joy, is to stop looking for it and just to start serving those in need.

If you want 2012 to be your happiest year ever just reach out to those in need. Join with Stop Hunger Now in service to the world’s poor and hungry, or find a local organization that needs help.

How and where you serve isn’t important. Happiness and joy will be found in the service you give wherever that might be. Find opportunities to serve and you will find more happiness than you can imagine.

Have a happy and joy-filled New Year!

These words, ”Ancora Impara,” are said to have been spoken by Michelangelo on his 87^th  birthday. First, I hope that I am quotable on my 87^th  birthday. Second, I hope that I can continue to exemplify Michelangelo’s understanding and appreciation for learning when I am 87.

Translated from the Italian, “Ancora Impara” simply means “I am always learning.”  I have always believed and totally agree that if we are not learning, always learning, constantly learning, there is something terribly amiss in our lives.

In less than two weeks I hope to reach the ripe young age of 65. and while I have seen a bit during those years and learned a little, as well, I hope that what I learn after my upcoming birthday will be far greater than all I have learned up to now.

Alvin Toffler wrote FUTURE SHOCK decades ago. Yet his premise holds far more truth today than it did when he first stated it. The speed of change has never been faster, and that speed will only continue to accelerate over time.

Learning, being open to all the new information that is becoming available is not just more critical for success than ever before. It’s actually far more critical to survival. For me, Ancora Imparo simply means that if I am not learning I must no longer be breathing.

Maybe one New Year’s Resolution might just be to be able to say, “I am always learning.

As we count down the remaining days until December 25^th  we might do well to stop and take a deep breath. Take a moment to reflect on what we are doing. Take a second or two to ponder why we feel so pressured.

All of us are doing our best to make sure we have the perfect gift for every loved one on our list. We are all trying to make sure everyone will be over-joyed with our gifts, and that everything will be perfect on Christmas morning.

My question is a simple one. Whose birthday are we celebrating? Do we really think that the Kindle Fire is at the top of Jesus’ birthday list?

I realize we give gifts to our loved ones to honor the birth of Jesus. But is this the best way to celebrate the birth of the Christ?

Martin Luther, the great German reformer, once wrote that

God is the God of the humble, the miserable, the oppressed and the desperate, and of those who are brought to even nothing; and His nature is to give sight to the blind, to comfort the broken-hearted, to justify sinners, and to save the very desperate and damned.

We can take take a great deal of pressure off ourselves this Christmas season by simply trying to more clearly reflect the nature of our God. Forget the perfect gift and go for gifts that truly honor the Christ child.

The sick still need to be cared for, homeless need shelter, prisoners need visiting, the broken-hearted need comforting and the hungry certainly need to be fed. These are gifts that will always be well received and more deeply appreciated than we will ever realize. The desperate and damned are truly grateful for every gift…regardless of the cost.

One of my heros in the faith is Archbishop Oscar Romero. Three decades of faithful witness in El Salvador ultimately led to his assassination and martyrdom. He spoke the truth out of a place of deep love. His words were often hard, but they were always unambiguous.

His book, THE VIOLENCE OF LOVE, is one I find myself returning to again and again. In it I feel the heartbeat of a simple soul whose profound faith gave him the quiet courage to stand up to principalities and powers. His faithfulness never ceases to inspire me.

Thie following was taken from a homily the Archbishp gave on February 5, 1978.

The guarantee of one’s prayer
   is not in saying a lot of words.
The guarantee of one’s petition is very easy to know:
   how do I treat the poor?
      Because that is where God is.
The degree to which you approach them,
and the love with which you approach them,
or the scorn with which you approach them—
   that is how you approach God.
What you do to them, you do to God.
The way you look at them is the way you look at God.