Borrowed From The Creator

I hate it when people steal my ideas. Well, the good ones anyway. I joke that one of my goals is to come up with 100 ideas a week in hopes that one of them will be really good. That’s probably a bit ambitious, but between parenting, running a home, work, writing, speaking, and just life in general, there is always room for new ideas. Alas, a lot of them are just okay (you may have read a few posts that stemmed from those “okay” ideas). A great many of them are terrible. Some I forget before I have a chance to capture them, and some are just sparks that eventually lead to something else.

In any case, I’m convinced it’s all part of the creative process, and every once in awhile, I have a “eureka!” moment and come up with something I fall in love with. Sometimes I can use it right away, but more often it’s tucked into one of many notebooks where it is tweaked and groomed as it waits for its debut. Such ideas are my pets. My sweet little chicks in my incubation tank of a notebook. And that’s why I get so annoyed when someone steals one of them.

Okay, so they don’t actually steal them. Someone else just happens upon the same brilliant idea and does something with it before I do. Either that, or there is a an underground network of dastardly idea thieves spying on me and hacking my computer!…but there are already enough conspiracy theory blogs out there, so I’m going to stick with my first explanation.

One of my current pets is an idea that sparked when our Titus group was studying Colossians a few years ago. I’ve been toying with it as a writing or speaking topic ever since, and when I was challenged to write a Finish Year list for 2012, working it into a speaking topic was on the list. Admittedly, it was somewhere near the bottom, but while brainstorming my message for the 2013 NLICC Women's Retreat a few weeks ago, I was elated when I discovered a way to work my clever little concept into a larger theme.

Imagine how I felt then when I recently stumbled upon a book on Amazon that is based on the very same passage from Colossians. And it's a book for women. And the author's general approach to the passage is similar to mine. Please tell me you just gasped audibly, at least once, because I did. I may also have yelled a few things at my computer screen and banged my head on my desk a few times.

It didn’t end there, but perhaps the best way for me to convey what I was feeling and thinking is to provide you with a raw, uncut glimpse of the inner workings of my brain.

WARNING: you are about to get a raw, uncut glimpse of the inner workings of my brain.

Someone stole my idea! One of my favorite ideas!

Well, sure, Colossians has been around for thousands of years…

And well…I guess it makes sense that in 2000 years, someone might come up with a  similar idea.

But what if someone reads this book and thinks I copied this person's idea?

That would be so unfair!

<chocolate break>

Hmmm…I'm going to read the sample. Maybe it's not even good.

<download sample and begin reading>

Please don't be good, please don't be good, please don't be good.

It's pretty good.

Blast!

On the other hand, the approach is slightly different. It’s similar, but different.

But still similar.

<make face at digital copy of book>

<small shred of normally-functioning brain reminds me of recent prayers for background resources for idea>

<small shred of normally-functioning brain gets cocky and points out that book could be an answer to that prayer>

<eat chocolate and tell normally-functioning part of brain to shut up>

I'll bet no one will ever even read that book.

<realize the improbability of no one ever reading the book>

I hope no one ever reads that book.

<realize that hoping no one will read what is probably a really good book is not nice>

I then take a deep breath and shuffle before Heavenly Father's throne where I imagine He has been patiently listening to my rant and waiting for me to calm down. “I’m going to let this go, God, but I need your help because you know and I know how excited I was about this idea. It’s creative and clever...and it’s mine.”

And then I hear God ask me why it matters if two individuals, each bringing her own style and perspective, are similarly inspired by the same passage of His unchanging Word. He questions whether I am more excited about relating His truth or “my” idea. He asks me why the notion of "my" idea reaching beyond my limited audience is somehow less exciting instead of more.

And that’s when I realized it was never my idea.

"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you my glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." -Romans 15:5-6

(p.s. If you’re wondering what the idea is, you gotta know I can't tell you. People I don't even know are already stealing my ideas right out of my brain, so there's no way I'm going to put them up here for the whole world to see. Besides, assuming I stop pouting and pull it together, I want it to be a surprise, so if you really want to know, be sure to come to the retreat next year.

p.p.s. For those of you who think you know what it is, you're probably right, but shhhhhh!).