Today's Stupidity is Tomorrow's Brilliance

Currently Listening to: Not Sure by Fiction Family

I had this dumb idea to go back and read some of my old posts from a few years ago.

I think anytime you have the stupidity to put your thoughts in the open, you have to be prepared to look back at them and be ashamed. Not every thought we have is worth sharing.

Or maybe not every thought is developed enough to be ready for public consumption.

However, I also believe that when we think, we begin to work on something that then can develop and someday might actually become a rational or even worthwhile thought.

I was reading the other day about writing. In the midst of that reading I came across some pretty cool thoughts. Here are a couple highlights (Once again, thanks Henri Nouwen):

*"What I am gradually discovering is that in the writing I come in touch with the Spirit of God within me and experience how I am led to new places."

*"Writing is a process in which we discover what lives in us."

I have these friends who used to have a band. They called the band Work in Progress. I always liked the name because 1. someday I want to be a rock star.... Now that I said that I'm not sure that had any relevance.

So 2. I love the imagery that they weren't complete but they were working towards something.

I feel the same way about writing. Sometimes I sit down with a point I want to write about. Other times I have a thought and the only way I can think to think through it is to start writing. Every once in a while I'm shocked at where i end up. Other times I'm disappointed that I said so many words and ended up with very little.

So maybe the title is a bit over zealous. But I do think that if I don't think today about things, I'll have very little to build on tomorrow. And if I have nothing to build on tomorrow......

The more I think about it, most of life is like this. We discover who we are by trying and seeing what happens. It's why I know I stink at soccer, archery, being a lifeguard and singing in public.

I remember my coach when I worked at a church telling me that the problem with me was that I kept waiting for the perfect idea and in the meantime kept missing out on sharing any good ideas I had. The reality was, the perfect idea never came and I was left a non-contributor who people thought didn't care since I never said anything.

So let's be honest, sharing a dumb idea can sometimes be embarrassing. Doing the wrong thing is rarely awesome.

So here's to exploring. Here's to risking a dumb idea today so we might have a better one somewhere down the road.