Inspiration - Parish Magazine June 2014

Inspiration

The news has been full recently of the inspirational story of Stephen Sutton, the young man who tragically lost his life to cancer on 14th May 2014.  His cancer was initially diagnosed in September 2010 and despite extensive treatment was finally diagnosed as incurable by the doctors in December 2012.  Throughout this difficult treatment regime Stephen continued to attend school excelling in his GCSEs and AS levels.  Once the terminal nature of his cancer was confirmed he remained positive, looked to live as much as he could into the limited time he had left and worked hard to raise funds for the charity ‘Teenage Cancer Trust’.  He spoke in front of 1000’s of people, went sky diving, got into the Guinness book of records, saw numerous music groups, crowd surfed in a rubber dingy, visited CERN and much more. One unknown author wrote that, ‘Life should not be measured in the moments of breath you take, but in the moments that take your breath away.’ And Stephen certainly packed a lot of those breath taking moments into his short life.
In his blog Stephen wrote, ‘The fact that life sometimes doesn't seem fair fuels my motivation to make the world a better place.  Bad things happen but it is how you react to these things that define who you really are.’ In January 2013 he set the goal of raising £10,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust, by January 2014 he had raised over £500,000 and, at the time of writing, just four months later he has raised over £3.9 million! And the money is still coming in.
Many people have been posting tributes to Stephen and all speak of being inspired by his positive attitude, his courage and all that he did, despite his condition, to make a difference in the lives of others.  He has left a legacy not only in the money that he helped raise, but in the way that he touched people’s hearts and inspired them.  Comedian Jason Manford, who has been supporting Stephen’s fundraising campaign, said, ‘Stephen touched more lives than he will ever know.’
What are the things that inspire you? I am inspired when I see people that are acting courageously in the face of impossible odds, when they give of themselves sacrificially to help others, when they stretch to do something beyond their comfort zone, when they fail, but pick themselves up and try again, when a teacher puts in the extra mile for a difficult child, when a parent lovingly cares for a disabled or difficult child, when a child cares for an aging parent…
I am no psychology expert, but think people are inspired when they see people displaying qualities of character that they admire and would like to see more of in themselves and in our world.
We all have people and situations in our lives that annoy/frustrate us and drag us down.  And we all need people like Stephen in our lives to help us raise our eyes from the everyday challenges and adversities and see how life can be lived.
In the few years that I've been here in Edgehill I have had the privilege of sitting with many families and individuals after they have lost someone they love.  Such moments often give people pause to reflect on life and to think back on the way that those that have died have touched their lives, encouraging and inspiring them.  In our hectic lifestyles we often fail to take the time to reflect on the many people who have encouraged, inspired, guided, loved and cared for us, enriching our lives as we have journeyed with them.  And we in turn are not always aware of the difference we've made in the lives of others.
So as you are reading this can I encourage you to pause for a moment and to think about those people that have encouraged, inspired, guided, loved and cared for you.  If they have passed away then say a prayer of thanks to God for all that they were to you.  But if they are still living then get in touch with them and let them know, it will lift both them and you, and we all need more of that in our lives.Rev Barry Jackson