Jack London, a western prolific writer, so boldly said, ?You can?t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.? In today?s society inspiration is viewed as a rare occasion that sometimes manages to graze the shoulder of a thoughtful stranger. However, inspiration should not be some ghost-like ideal, but rather a plainly visible object that we take action to obtain.

One of the greatest scientific warriors, Thomas Edison, fought to create a practical incandescent light bulb with a weapon much greater than a club. After nearly two years and over 1,000 attempts Edison created the light bulb in 1879. Thomas Edison?s inspiration was strong even during his last failing attempts. Through action, Thomas Edison has become arguably one of our most influential inventors in the past century.

In the 1950s Martin Luther King, Jr. lead African Americans against uneven odds and fight for racial equality. King did not wait for inspiration, but rather took action to achieve it. Through his non-violent protests in the Montgomery Bus Boycott he motivated other to do the same. By earnestly seeking a form of inspiration King began the change of racial inequality that would unfold for years following his death.

Perhaps the deepest understanding of inspiration lies in biblical text. In second Timothy 4:2 Paul writes that our inspiration should be in ?season? all the time and never out of ?season.? The action taken by men such as Edison and King exemplifies the attitudes required to seek inspiration. Rather than waiting for a rare occasion of enlightenment, creativity, or spirituality, we should seek it ourselves.