One question haunts people: “Why?” Most of us have experienced disappointment or tragedy, and we just want to know why. Unfortunately, that answer doesn’t always come to us. God won’t always reveal the “why” behind things that happened to us. Only in eternity will we finally get a glimpse of how fair and innovative our God truly is.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t question things that happen to us now. But I think we should change our questions. Instead of asking “why”, transition yourself to these two questions.
What if?
“What if” opens our innovative side. Applying this to our current situation can open doors that didn’t exist previously. It acknowledges where we are, and then transports us to where we could be.
And God loves taking us to places we didn’t even know existed. In our careers and relationships, there are greater things than we can even see. We just have to look for them with God’s help.
Now what?
“Why” tends to think of things from our perspective. But “now what” can give you God’s perspective. We might never know why a tragedy occurs, but we can look for the next good thing on the horizon. I don’t know why this happened, but what should I do now that it has?
We should apply this question to bad things as well as good things that happen to us. I’m convinced everything that happens to us can be used for a moment of innovation. It can provide unique opportunities that only we’ll be able to tap into.
Each of us deal with unique things and experience unique greatness. Our lives won’t look like other people’s lives. And that’s okay.
It will always frustrate you to ask why your life doesn’t look like someone else’s. But when you look for the unique opportunity hidden within that difference, you can begin living a truly innovative life.