Motivation

Traditionally, motivation comes from within. But more and more I’m realizing motivation is actually a gift.

I’ve been thinking about motivation. Traditionally, motivation comes from within, but more and more I’m recognizing my motivation is actually a collection of gifts given to me by people who love me. These gifts are all settled within me for the moments I need them most.

I was given the gift of motivation when my mom praised my janky kid drawings and suggested I put them in successive order, with words to describe the action. Offering gentle guidance, she taught me to build a story with a start, middle, and end. She introduced me to the immense creative rush of holding my own creation in my hands. Decades later, that motivation is still in me.

I got a big helping of motivation when my brother and sister responded to my budding filmmaking aspirations with total enthusiasm. They helped me test out my new camera, gave me story ideas, played whatever parts I needed, drove me around, even helped put makeup on my friends. They motivated me to communicate, to be a leader, to rally others to a common purpose. There’s no way I would have figured that out on my own.

When my wife grabbed me by the shoulders and told me there was a children’s book in me that needed to come out, she gave me motivation I couldn’t find in myself. As hard as it was to spend weeks writing, I can’t take all the credit. Rachael motivated me when she said I’d be crazy not to do it.

How vital the gift of motivation has been in my life! To say my motivation comes from within is to discredit the people who saw something special in me. To those who have – and continue to –  demonstrate generosity by motivating me with encouragement and support, I am so thankful for you. 

To those of us with motivation to give — and I think that’s all of us — let’s not hold back. Let’s find people who see the good in us and can motivate us. And let’s do the same for them. How many stories, projects, innovations, and ideas could we draw out in the lives around us by simply being generous enough to give the gift of motivation?

Like my family did for me, and like Hebrews 10:24 tell us: 

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.