Ideas have a very different kind of lifespan than humans do. Ideas aren't bound by flesh and bone, illness, locality or finances. Instead they are bound by influence, recollection and application. Its not that idea's aren't physical; they are codified in words that can live on for hours, days, months, years and even centuries in scrolls, books, newspapers, blogs, digital archives, and so on.
But ideas are not stuck on a physical or digital page. They take root in the lives of those who take them in. Those ideas do their work in hearts and minds; producing whole new generations of ideas. Generosity begets generosity.
So today as I commemorate a year since Jim Reapsome, my mentor and friend, passed away, I have two ways of thinking about his life. One is the deep loss I feel from not having more of him in my life. From our breakfast meetings in local diners all across Chicago's western suburbs to my intense editing sessions where we were working on getting a piece of writing just right, he made my life richer. I miss that.
The other is the rich access to His thoughts and perspectives through what he wrote. Even this morning, I started my day reading a devotional he wrote on the life of Jesus and I was immediately connected to his heart. Jim's Generous Mind is still having an impact even though I can't call him up or write him and email.
That is the power of a Generous Mind. If you share the ideas God has put on your heart, those ideas will continue to have power and significance as long as God chooses to use them. For some it might be as long as their friends are alive; for others it might be for centuries. The length of time isn't what is important. What is of value is the offering. God chooses to use it only when you offer it.
So what ideas does God want you to share today? Will you offer those ideas as testimony to what He is doing in your life and what you are learning as you walk with Him? How might those be used? That's not for us to know. But isn't it encouraging that the lifespan of our ideas, given as an offering to Jesus, is potentially far greater than we can imagine?
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