Are you an Eigen Function?...

There's a mathematical concept that has caught my attention over the past couple of months. But as I was looking it up to understand it a bit better, the engineer of the house walked by and laughed at me for reading articles on eigen functions on a Friday night... But Ive learned that theres more to be learned from them than just...well, whatever it is that math people learn from them. So heres the pay off of what I got from it.

Its been explained that an eigen function, at its most simple explanation, is that which is self-explaining, or as Stephen Denny puts it, "...its expression is self-validating." To give an example, the following sentence can be called an eigen function: "This sentence starts and ends with a T." It explains what it is. Get it? Sort of?

It took me a bit. But you can check more about how it plays into marketing at Stephen Denny's blog. Its a pretty solid marketing function and made me question a lot about how to be a better "business."

But past that, it made me think of what we are called to be as Christians. 1 John says, "Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did." We are called to be eigen functions. When we are explaining who Christ is, the person listening should get it immediately because they see how we live. When we are telling of the grace and forgiveness that comes at the feet of Jesus, we should be self-validating the grace and forgiveness we ourselves pour out on others.

Its been said before, in multiple ways, like "Walk the Talk." But the basic message of that phrase, and of the concept of eigen functions, is that we need to be the essence of what and Who we claim. Period.

Not bad for a Friday night of math articles, huh?

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Lesson for Today: Doctor offices are no fun. Especially when they check your age to make sure you dont need a parent signature. And then get asked way too many questions that you have no idea how to answer.