Thinking

You don't hear it as often as you used to...You would hear it at the beginning of a meeting. Somebody would say, "let's think outside the box," which literally meant "let's explore alternative solutions to longstanding problems or challenges."


It was the standard operating procedure in meetings where creativity was valued. Often people would come up with solutions requiring massive changes to conventional and approved ways of doing things. That's what made "outside the box" thinking such a scary proposition for some people.


I have been to lots of meetings and have heard lots of "outside the box" thinking. I have seen a lot of great ideas shot down because "we have never done it that way before." I have watched "outside the box" thinkers persist and eventually have a hearing on their thoughts.


We are where we are today because someone thought "outside the box." We didn't just drift to where we are in our technologies.Someone did some deep level thinking that prompted them to say, "what would happen if we....?"


That's my question today.  What would happen if we thought long and hard about problems and challenges we face in our culture. What if we resisted the temptation to yield to simplistic answers that on the surface may appear to work and give ourselves to "outside the box" thinking which may catapult us forward into new arenas of effectiveness.

What would happen if I allowed myself to think "outside the box" in matters of faith? What would my life look like as a pilgrim if this happened?


The problem with "outside the box" thinking is once the idea is out of the box its sorta hard to get it back in....Let the creative thinking begin! Kinda exciting!  What do you think?