Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Derrick Porter each Sunday during the weekly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square broadcast. This will be given Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, and originally aired on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. Due to the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra’s tour stop in Lima, Peru, there will not be live performances of “Music & the Spoken Word” on Feb. 16 and Feb. 23 (and no public rehearsal on Feb. 20), and a past performance will be streamed.
Have you ever felt weighed down, heavy with pressures or concerns for a loved one? Well, if you have, you’re not alone. I certainly have, and I imagine these are feelings that at one time or another everyone has felt.
This world is challenging, and as a result, we each have great need for inspiration. Receiving inspiration in times of trouble is like sunshine to the soul. It warms our spirits and motivates our actions. Sometimes inspiration can be found immediately, without much effort. And yet other times, it requires patience, looking forward with hope even while remembering inspiration received in the past.
Tchaikovsky, the famous composer, once said, “Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.” True. Inspiration takes work. It isn’t something we simply download and receive with the click of a button, like we might do for the newest app on our phone. Instead, we must look for it, internalize it and even appreciate where it can lead us.
So where do we look for inspiration? We look to God and to all He has created. As we do so, we recognize that everything that is good comes from Him and is inspired by Him (see Moroni 7:13-16). He is the ultimate source of our inspiration.
Inspiration from God often comes as a thought or a feeling. But to fully benefit from inspiration, we must act on what we feel. Inspiration is given to move us to do something that will better our circumstances and fill us with a quiet confidence that with God, nothing is impossible (see Luke 1:37; Genesis 18:14).
A woman I know suddenly found herself raising several young children on her own. She worried, “How can I do this alone? How can I support my children in their struggles while I, myself, feel so burdened and even at times hopeless?”
This strong woman looked for and found inspiration from God. With effort and focus, she received the guidance she needed and the strength to move forward. Her children thrived, her happiness increased, and she found contentment and even joy in the journey.
God did not abandon her. And He will never abandon you. He desires for us to find joy and purpose in our lives. As we go forward, may we seek Him as the ultimate source of our inspiration and strength, trusting that He is with us every step of the way.
Tuning in …
The “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast is available on KSL-TV, KSL News Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirecTV, SiriusXM (Ch. 143), tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir and Amazon Alexa (must enable skill). The program is aired live on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time on these outlets. Look up broadcast information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedules.
