Novelty

Every so often, I crave a break from routine—something new, fresh and thus exciting. I search out a new recipe, a new restaurant, a new pair of shoes, or a new hobby. These changes are not necessarily an improvement over what I already have; they are merely different than the usual. They provide a distraction from monotony, a temporary pleasure, a tinge of happiness.

Part of the pleasure of going on vacation is to go somewhere new and to experience something different—the more uncommon the location, the better. Most tourist sites cater to this desire by offering bungee jumping, zip-lining, drinks in weirdly shaped vessels—anything that jolts you out of the ordinary. After a few days, the novelty wears off, and you need something fresh to bring the same level of pleasure. 

“Of all the passions of mankind, the love of novelty most rules the mind. In search of this, from realm to realm we roam. Our fleets come loaded with every folly home.” (Shelby Foote—Historian)

In our search for novelty, we distractedly roam away from discipline. Our preoccupation with trifling baubles diverts our attention away from that which is enduring and stable. We seem to be especially susceptible to chasing after amusing follies during transitional stages of our life. Teens are known for pursuing fads, and those in mid-life crave change in the form of plastic surgery, motorcycles, and sports cars.

“The delight of opening a new pursuit, or a new course of reading, imparts the vivacity and novelty of youth even to old age.” (Benjamin Disraeli)

‘A new course of reading’ seems rather tame compared to modern versions of frivolity. As I go through middle age, I am bound to chase after new forms of amusements that distract me from the reality of aging. If only I could manage to pick pursuits that somehow improve my life or that of others. If only I could stay away from predictable gimmicks and damaging diversions.

Roommates

It’s that time of year when college students are picking roommates. Finding the right person to share your living space is a lot like finding a short-term spouse. Most young people are more absorbed in their own concerns, desires, and feelings than those of others. How is this going to affect me, my future, and my popularity among my peers? Two or more self-centered individuals sharing a living space is a recipe for discord.

By the time we are ready for a spouse, we hope to find a mature individual who can admit: “It’s not all about me.” We want an ‘other-centered’ partner who is willing to revolve around us. Most of us settle for a world-centered spouse—someone who is willing to extend his/her boundaries beyond self-interest and include us, our children, our friends, and our worldly concerns.

Yet, there is an even better living arrangement.

“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you.” (John 15:4 MSG)
“If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you. (John 15:18-19 MSG)

 

Jesus has asked us to move in with Him, to live a God-centered life. Living on God’s terms involves giving up living on our own terms and rejecting the world’s terms. This is not easy or fun. I can see why most of us are reluctant to be roommates with Jesus.

Caring about Consciousness

Some people are interested in attaining higher levels of consciousness, while some want nothing more than to enjoy this life and to be concerned about that which is material, tangible, and understandable. I can accept that we all care about different things. What I don’t get is how some people dismiss things that they don’t understand as insignificant or irrelevant. Take, for example, the commonly accepted myth that humans only use 10 percent of their brain. I did some online research and here is what I found:

“What's not understood is how clusters of neurons from the diverse regions of the brain collaborate to form consciousness. So far, there's no evidence that there is one site for consciousness, which leads experts to believe that it is truly a collective neural effort. Another mystery hidden within our crinkled cortices is that out of all the brain's cells, only 10 percent are neurons; the other 90 percent are glial cells, which encapsulate and support neurons, but whose function remains largely unknown. Ultimately, it's not that we use 10 percent of our brains, merely that we only understand about 10 percent of how it functions.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=people-only-use-10-percent-of-brain

Now, some of you will find this article fascinating, while others will have zoned out by the middle of the first sentence. Maybe you don’t care about neuroscience, but I doubt that you would say that human brain function is unimportant. We might only understand about 10 percent of the science behind our brains, but to assume that the parts that are beyond our comprehension are superfluous…well, that’s just plain stupid!

This attitude of—I don’t care about it and I don’t understand it, thus it must not be important—is prevalent in our culture. We have voters who don’t understand global economics or foreign policy and go on to assume that it is irrelevant. There are individuals who don’t care about environmental damage and pretend it doesn’t exist.

Thus, it’s no wonder that many people dismiss spirituality. Faith is difficult to prove, to understand, to explain, or to quantify. Thousands of people, including me, have tried to make sense of it. Yet, God will always remain beyond human comprehension. However, just because we can’t understand God completely, doesn’t mean He does not exist, or that connecting with Him is irrelevant. Whether we care about it or not, consciousness—the instinctual, intrinsic awareness of the bond between us and our Maker—is supremely important.

Art Appreciation

I took a music/art appreciation class in college which taught me how to distinguish between a Manet and a Monet. After taking this class, I could use artsy terms to pass myself off as a cultured individual. However, I don’t think my capacity to appreciate classical music or modern art increased significantly.

My teenage son thinks a certain musician is the greatest. Needless to say, the whole family is regularly exposed to this musician’s work, as well as to a steady commentary about his exceptional attributes. No matter how often I listen to this kind of music, it just sounds like noise to my ears. I must not have what it takes to appreciate this guy and his music. Most likely, I never will, because I don’t care enough about this kind of music.

I think one of my favorite authors is a genius. My son disagrees and says this author is overrated. What!?I have suggested that he spend some more time reading this author’s work before he makes up his mind. Maybe my son doesn’t have what it takes to appreciate this wonderful writer…and maybe he never will.

Just as we may have certain innate predilections for music, art, or math —I wonder if we are predisposed to have different spiritual aptitude levels. Maybe some of us will always remain in a semi-conscious state of faith. Even if we try to cultivate cognizance and acquire understanding, we may never be able to develop keen insights like Kierkegaard or C.S. Lewis. Some of us may never have what it takes to truly appreciate a certain wonderful Artist.  

Gangs in the Neighborhood

This summer, I have spent a lot of time dealing with gangs in my neighborhood. It all started a month ago when I put out some birdfeeders. I bought a beautiful gazebo birdfeeder that coordinated nicely with the exterior of my house, filled it with what the packaging assured me were seeds that a variety of birds would enjoy, and waited for a culturally diverse group to show up. Within a few days, a gang of sparrows monopolized my feeders, wasting all the seeds by sweeping them to the ground with their beaks and scaring all the other birds away. You wouldn’t think sparrows would be intimidating, but they are aggressive and act collectively to establish their territory. I observed them for a few weeks as they abused my magnanimous food distribution system. I wasn’t going to enable these unfair bullies to take over my front porch! 

So I did some research online and followed the recommendations for detracting sparrows and attracting other birds. I replaced one of the feeders with one specific for finches. I changed the kind of seed I used on my general feeder. Around my pretty gazebo feeder, I placed a halo made with wire hangers—strung with fishing line and weights (this is supposed to discourage sparrows but not other birds for some reason). I made a fence around the trough so the sparrows couldn’t sweep the food down with their beaks. My once pretty birdfeeder now resembles an inner city convenience store with bars, chains, barbed wire, and locks on everything. As of today, the sparrow gangs are still patrolling the feeders. The juveniles are the worst offenders. They have no fear. They don’t have enough common sense to know that their wings can get caught in the fishing line, or that their escape route is compromised by the wire halo. I have seen a few finches, but they are still scared to even visit their own feeder, since the sparrows are only a few feet away. I saw a grosbeak and a cardinal today...which gives me hope. I SHALL keep fighting for the underserved, for the marginalized, for the gang victims.

In case you’re wondering…Yes, there is a point to this tongue-in-cheek narrative about my birdfeeders. We start many service projects with good intentions. We want to help the poor, feed the hungry, and care for the weak and oppressed. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to ensure fair and equitable distribution. Yet there are always groups that abuse our generosity by milking the system and hogging all the resources. This leads us to feel disgusted, discouraged, and burnt out. We feel like we are merely wasting our time and money just encouraging the trouble-makers and bullies.

Most of us would prefer donating money to refugees and then not worry about whether we are inadvertently funding the warlords in the process. However, this kind of irresponsible generosity can cause more harm than good. I think a certain level of creative strategizing and critical thinking is required, even in charitable pursuits. In order to resolve societal problems, we must stay observant—identifying the conflicts and scrutinizing the weaknesses in our charitable ventures. We must adapt our techniques as we respond to the complexities that are bound to pop up. We must stay engaged, develop solutions, and outwit the bullies and gangsters.

Leftovers

I have such a hard time getting my family to finish leftover food. I cook regularly, and there are usually several dishes in the fridge on any given day. I try to push these dishes on my family, but they prefer new, freshly-prepared meals. The leftovers keep getting pushed to the back of the fridge till I finish them myself or give up on them and throw them away.

I have a bunch of leftover prayers that I’m not sure what to do with. Some prayers are answered quickly, while other ones are answered in surprisingly indirect ways. Yet there are some prayers that I have been pushing forward for so long, but God seems to have lost interest in. I feel hopeless and tempted to give up.

I’ve heard prayer described as ‘being conscious of God’s presence’ and ‘lifting mind and heart to God.’ My prayers are mostly pushing petitions up to God. I take my list of requests to the counter every day, in the hopes that if I am persistent and consistent—my prayers will be answered in the order in which they are received. Yes, I treat prayer as if it’s a customer service line!

This morning, I was feeling especially hopeless and dejected. I looked at all the leftover prayers. I sighed. I asked God: “What are we going to do about these?” I went for my run--which is what I do when I feel stuck.

Here are some thoughts that came to me: Lord, thank you for the progress—however miniscule. Each of these situations is a tiny bit better than they were a few months ago. I trust You to take care of these issues as you see fit. Transform my mind to adapt to whatever You have planned.

Providential Encounters

Sometimes, God makes such subtle moves that I almost miss them. The other day, I was having coffee with two good friends when a young woman, who went to school with our now grown children, walked past us. After a few polite pleasantries, she went and sat by herself to eat and read.

For the past few months, we had been discussing how to encourage and support young women pursuing their higher education. We all looked at each other, recognizing that her appearance at that restaurant might have been divinely-scheduled. We decided to ask her to join us ‘old ladies’ and tell us about her future plans and current schedule. She graciously came over to our table and chatted with us about her college classes, part-time job, hopes, and dreams.

There have been several such providential encounters that have changed the trajectory of my life: The chance meeting with the man who would one day become my husband; running into strangers who would later become my good friends and mentors; listening to a radio report which then led to 12 years of homeschooling; the completely random phone call that brought our dog to us and the cherished relationship with the family that gave her to us.

There have also been some detrimental encounters that have led to bad choices, mistakes, and pain. And I have missed several divine appointments because of self-absorption.

Prior experience has taught me to keep my senses tuned in. Every time I cross paths with someone, I treat it like I’m approaching a junction. I look both ways—up to Heaven and down to Earth. I ask God for directions on how to proceed.