Emerald Louisa Nyman is only 4 days old, which means she’s had virtually no life experiences, and not much thought-life. Her miniature cerebral cortex is probably smooth, since rivulets and ridges come as a result of thinking hard and solving problems. (Pardon the over-simplification.)
As with all of us, the cerebral cortex plays an important role in remembering, paying attention, thinking, and language. Emerald has precious few reference points for any of that, which means her young life will be a succession of firsts for a long time to come. So, even though she’s only 4 days old, we decided to facilitate a few baby brain wrinkles today by taking her on her first shopping trip.
Because of that, it turned out to be a day of firsts for our little one: first journey away from home, first wind in her face, first rainstorm, first time in fleece outerwear, first trip to a store, first admiration from strangers, and on and on it went. Were we over-rivuleting her brain with too many firsts?
Probably not.
That’s because Emerald came equipped with God’s built-in defense system against brain overload. She ended up dozing through the entire excursion, oblivious to the long list of firsts unfolding all around her.
Something similar happens in our Christian lives, even those of us whose brains are well-wrinkled from years of problem solving. When we first come to know the Lord, our spiritual cerebral cortexes are smooth and inexperienced. We accept salvation much like a child, at face value and without question. As time passes, though, our understanding of God and his Word grows, generating questions that force us to use (and sometimes over-use) our spiritual gray matter.
When difficulties grow too big to manage, the word “why” comes up, and our brains go into spiritual overdrive. Circumstances often make no logical sense, so we over-think them and can’t understand why God won’t reveal the A -to-Z plans he has in mind, why he only gives the A and B.
We wear ourselves out holding onto the what-if scenarios that haven’t happened yet, when it might be wiser to follow Emerald’s example. If she’d been aware of the long list of firsts we had planned for her today, she would have stressed her new smooth cerebral cortex to the limit. As it was, she rested in the familiar security of her mommy’s arms and probably didn’t undergo any cerebral furrowing at all.
God must shake his head in amazement as he watches us waste time and brain power stressing over things that haven’t happened yet and probably never will. He’d rather see us relax and trust him to handle future details in the right way and time.
Meanwhile, just like Birgitta kept Emerald safe in her arms, God wants to carry us, too.
“I am he who will sustain you. I have made you, and I will carry you.” (Isaiah 46:4)