With this note I am starting the second half of my year on notes. Every week I wonder if this will be the week I just draw a blank, but I am happy to share with you on this topic!
Quite frankly, the note just prior to this recounts people with wisdom who affected my life, but it is also a remembrance of those who inspired me. Each person mentioned inspired me and I am grateful for them.
The reality of my life is I have been blessed to have had a lot of people in my life giving me inspiration Somehow, I avoided the negative voices of so many people in my early life. The environment in which I lived was quite nurturing. Of course, there were negative voices, but the positive voices were so much louder.
As I was writing last week’s note I began to think about a person who had great influence in my life. I am glad I saved his story for this week. His inspirational influence in my life helped me in many ways.
Even though I only used my Math Major and Education minor for a year and a half, the choice of them was of less impact than the man who would be me College advisor. Dr. Henry Hartje was in his first year as head of the Math Department at Florida Southern College. He was my advisor and my Calculus 101 Professor. If my memory serves me correctly, his undergraduate and master’s degrees were from University of Arkansas. He was a true Red-Blooded Razorback. He had taught a few years early at the college but left to pursue his PhD in education at University of Georgia. He was a brilliant mathematician, but it was his passion for education which affected me the most. I am not sure I could recall any calculus, but I am happy to remember and celebrate his personal impact on my life and recognize the inspiration he was!
The first exam of the semester was a review of basic Algebra I had learned in High School, and I made an A plus. The second exam I think was a D minus (it might have been worse). It was pretty common among most of my classmates. He told us we would be able to drop one test score at the end of semester and he would do his best to make himself available to us if we needed help. I NEEDED HELP!
Almost every week I was in his office making sure I understood the concepts of this new level of math. During our meetings, however, it was never just about math. He wanted to know me and wanted me to know he cared about me. It didn’t take long for us to find out we had a common love of Blue Grass Music. He played guitar, but his real claim was a collection of Blue Grass and Country music recordings that filled several shelves in his home office. He and his wife Betty opened their home to me and a few other Blue Grass Fans almost every Friday night while I was in college. It was my home away from home. They had two young children who would peep in and out while we were there. Betty always had a light meal or heavy snacks for us. It was a great break from Dorm and Cafeteria life.
Friday nights at the Hartje’s became very special to me. We usually arrived around 6 and tried to leave by 8 so the kids would get to sleep. Other Friday night activities didn’t start till after 8 and most of those activities were not as wholesome and fulfilling as being with the Hartje’s. Sometimes I would take my Friday night date with me to their home and then we would go out for a more typical college Friday night. You learn about a person when you bring them to the home of people you love. Quite frankly if my date didn’t fit in, it was a pretty good sign she was not a keeper. Quite often she figured it out for herself.
People who inspire are often people who are passionate about what they do. Dr. Hartje was passionate about being a college professor. He loved teaching, but he loved his students even more and he is responsible for helping me make some wise choices while I was in college. He recognized early in the first semester of my Junior year I would be graduating a semester early and would have finished all of my required hours for my major and minor before my last semester. He suggested I take one more course in the education department and apply to intern in the Polk County Public School System my last semester. It was a novel idea and though I had never considered it, it made sense. The internship went well, and it opened doors for me teach for a year and half.
It is no surprise that I do not remember a lot of the theories of education, but I do remember how he inspired me and enabled me to become a good student. By the way, I made A’s on all the other tests in my first semester of Calculus, dropped the D minus and made an A for the semester.
To be honest, I could write several chapters about people who inspired me, but the stories would all be very similar. My parents, parents of friends, older friends from our church youth group, adult counselors. The inspirational traits are very common. Passionate about what they do and the people with whom they are doing it. It’s New Year Eve 2022 as am I writing this and I am celebrating memories of those people and I am very grateful for the life I have had and the people who have inspired me.
During my years in the ministry, I focused a lot of my energy to make the churches I was serving INSPIRATIONAL. I think most people are motivated to reach their potential, especially their Faith Potential through Inspiration. For several years, the church Sassy and I founded had a mission statement “To inspire people to become followers of Jesus!” It has been a part of my personal mission as well!
It is important for me to tell you the most inspirational people I have known were followers of Jesus. When I became mature enough to really embrace the Bible, I found a God who longed for a relationship with me. So much, He sent His only Son into the world to prove His love.
Probably the greatest attribute of inspirational people is Hope. Here are a few of my favorite scriptures about that have inspired me.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Hebrews 11:1 NIV “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Romans 5:5 NIV “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Romans 12:12, 13 NIV “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” 13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Today is January 1, 2023. The start of a new year is always a chance to look back on the past, but more importantly to accept the gift of Hope. I am feeling pretty Hopeful today. Writing this note is helping me see the gift of who you are and I am glad to play a part in helping you become the person God created. I do have to accept the fact that by the time you are reading this I may not be living and if I am the person that you see is very old. My greatest desire at this time in my life is to do all that I can to inspire you even knowing that you may not remember some of the events in your early life when I was with you or by the time you are reading this the person you know may not be able to provide inspiration! Hopefully by then, you will be inspiring me!
You won’t remember our first trips to Disney, to the Park, or riding the Go Go looking for deer in our neighborhood, swimming in our pool, playing in the bounce house at the North Carolina house, playing on the Ice Pond at Copper Mountain acting out Spidy together or that yesterday we spent time together assembling a small trampoline for you to play with at the house!
Let me caution you! There will always be people around you who are negative and hopeless. Sadly you won’t be able to avoid them. Don’t let them steal your Hope and Joy. Don’t let them dim the light of those who are around you lighting your path with Inspiration. You may need to provide them Inspiration. You could be their source of inspiration!
Another word of caution, Jesus teaches there is evil in the world always at work trying to rob you of life! John 10:10 NIV “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Don’t let the thief steal your life from you. Accept the promise of abundant and eternal life from Jesus!
The core definition of Inspire is to breathe life into something! Let the Holy Spirit of Jesus breathe life into you!
Gee Sprague, January 01, 2023