The other day I was in a management meeting at work when one of my ideas started to be discussed. It just so happened that no one in the room knew it was my idea, except the person who brought it up for conversation.
The gist of the conversation was "Such-and-such idea was recently implemented. Was it the right decision?"
Some of my brightest peers argued against the idea.
One of the vice presidents listened for a while, and affirmed my idea as the right one.
Another peer proposed a second line of logic against the idea.
Another vice president spoke up in favor of mine.
My idea stuck.
There were a couple of occasions in there where I could have made it clear that the idea had been mine. Or merely pointed out some of the logic behind the idea, as if I'd come up with it just now.
But why?
The idea was already winning. It had been immensely satisfying to feel as if I had the intuition of vice presidents. It had been a great affirmation and confidence booster.
All that would've been achieved by my piping up now would be a temporary ego boost. It wouldn't have changed the desired end results. It might have rubbed the wrong way the person who knew the idea had been mine.
Plus, the idea of "mine" is a little silly anyway, trusting that creation of any kind is in God's hands. If I was destined to be credited with the idea, it would have happened without my need to push it.
The balloon of my spirit was already filled and floating. It's funny to me how often the temptation arises to wave a pin around to draw selfish attention, rather than simply basking in the moment with a sense of gratitude.
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