DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT WEDNESDAY – CREATIVITY.

A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. – Source unknown.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. – Psalm 51:10.

During periods of great change, answers don't last very long but a question is worth a lot. The word question is derived from the Latin quaerere (to seek), which is the same root as the word quest.

A creative life is a continued quest, and good questions are useful guides. We have found that the most useful questions are open-ended; they allow a fresh, unanticipated answer to reveal itself. These are the kind of questions children aren't afraid to ask. They seem naive at first.

But think how different our lives would be if certain questions of wonder were never asked. Jon Collins of Stanford's Graduate School of Business has compiled the following list of questions of wonder:

Albert Einstein: What would a light wave look like to someone keeping pace with it?
Bill Bowerman (inventor of Nike shoes): What happens if I pour rubber into my waffle iron?
Fred Smith (founder of Federal Express): Why can't there be reliable overnight mail service?
Godfrey Hounsfield (inventor of the CAT scanner): Why can't we see in three dimensions what is inside a human body without cutting it open?
Masaru Ibuka (honorary chairman, Sony): Why don't we remove the recording function and speakers and put headphones in the recorder? (Result: the Sony Walkman.)

Many of these questions are deemed ridiculous at first...
Other shoe companies thought Bowerman's waffle shoe was a "really stupid idea."
Godfrey Hounsfield was told the CAT scan was "impractical."
Masaru Ibuka got comments like: "A recorder with no speaker and no recorder -- are you crazy?"
Fred Smith proposed the idea of Federal Express in a paper at Yale and got a C. - Bits & Pieces.

Great composers do not set down to work because they are inspired, but become inspired because they are working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day in his figures. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration. - Bits & Pieces.

Loving Father, I thank you that when my heart is clean, my thinking is right, and that I can be as creative as I need to be help me by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be creative. I ask this, in the wonderful name of Jesus and for His glory! Amen!

Be encouraged!
GBYAY