"What if we made a better automobile?"
Ta-da! Smart cars.- "What if we reinvented the circus?"
Presto-chango! Cirque Du Soleil. - "What if cell phones became even more convenient?"
Clear an eardrum. Bluetooth. - "What if I could choose my own infinite playlist with NO commercials?"
Download this! Mp3 player adapters become standard in new cars and satellite radio takes off. - "What if the garage sale went global?"
Eureka! Ebay and Craig's List.
There are magazines devoted to nothing more than telling you what the new "thing" is. Sometimes they take off in powerful ways, while many other products and inventors fall to the wayside.
Innovation is about letting bigger things get smaller and smaller things get bigger; turning things upside down and inside out; exploding the obvious into smithereens and letting a group of scattered ideas become powerfully networked; marrying two words that don't belong next two each other to create or rebirth a concept the world has been yearning for.
Innovation IS about reinventing the wheel.
We obviously we see this in the consumer market, but what about if this is true in your relational circles, too?
- Past arguments: What if you brought innovation to a situation you've written off? What if you began to look at the "idiot" on the other side of the fence with eyes that looked past the hurt and found a place of healing?
- Future weariness: Often we drop out of very worthy commitments when the excitement wears off and life wears us down. What if you found a deeper reason to be doing what you do now so that when you get tired of it you're still willing to do what is right?
- Rescheduling for relationships: That favorite hobby or activity that takes you away from or puts you on a different schedule than the people in your life? What if you found a different time to do it to better invest in your relationships?
- The God factor: Have you figured God out so much that you've forgotten He's bigger than your brain? What if you became willing to relearn something you're sure of as if you were a child... because that's how He invites you to come to Him.
The list can go on, but you get it. Innovation is about asking, “what if?” with an attitude of hope and faith and the absence of fear.
I dare you to ask, “What if?” Maybe the next Google won't come out of you, but perhaps the next great movement of care in the people around you will.
