Friday, January 7, 2011

Spiritual Frontal Lobes

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking.
Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

I Corinthians 14:20

Smack in the middle of my daughter’s teenage years, a psychologist gave me a crucial piece of information – the reasoning part of the brain isn’t fully developed until the age of twenty-five. Of course he finished by telling me that teenagers primarily rely on the smallest part of the brain – the implusive part! I My initial relief was short-lived, my daughter was a long way from 25!

The psychologist’s message still resonates with me all these years later. Reasoning vs. impulsivity. My religious education didn’t particularly encourage “thinking” about my faith. Blind acceptance was more what was called for. It left me exploding onto the college scene believing primarily what I had been told to believe. It was, however, the perfect collision – my faith grew just as my frontal lobe was maturing!

“Unless you’re like children. . .” wasn’t permission to be immature Christians. It’s true, the defining child-like qualities of trust, love and openness are critical to the sacred life but ultimately God demands a stronger, more intimate knowledge of Himself. It is a demand that is demanding of my time, energy and focus. It is a demand that requires my thinking to move beyond an impulsive faith; maturing instead into a faith that isn’t afraid to reason and live into the uncertainties of the Who and Why.

Jesus, forgive me for putting limits
on my knowledge of Who You are.
Help me to grow my spiritual frontal lobes!
Amen.

No comments: