Busyness

School is done for the summer (except that I'm trying to teach Spanish to my two youngest girls), and for the most part we are living life at a somewhat leisurely pace. Still, with six people in our house all wanting to have a life, it gets hectic some days. The other day I was rushing around with too much to cram into a morning, and it put me in a bad mood. Later I was reading a prayer in a devotional (31 Days of Praise, an awesome book): "I thank You...for each thing that triggers in me anxiety". As I read these words, I wasn't really thankful because anxiety isn't fun. When I was stressed, I didn't talk to God about it because I was in a hurry. But Jesus said to the stressed-out Martha (Luke 10:42), "one thing is needed". The one thing He was referring to was sitting at His feet and listening to His word. Anyhow, how long would it have taken me to say, "Lord, I need Your peace and guidance right now. Keep my eyes on You." If I had turned my thoughts to Jesus I would have realized that He isn't stressed at all, and I had no reason to be either.
Later that same day, I took Liz and Kelly to get their hair cut. I had brought along a book to read while waiting, and I left it in the car. So I picked up the July issue of Ladies' Home Journal, and started reading an article about prayer. It was fascinating. A neuroscientist named Andrew Newberg (author of How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist) did a study in 2001 in which Tibetan Buddhists were asked to meditate and Franciscan nuns were asked to pray. When they reached a place of deep contemplation, their brains were scanned. Surprisingly, the scan showed that the superior parietal lobe, the part of the brain that tells us where our body stops and the rest of the world starts, had shut down. The article said, "With no sensory input coming in, the brain can't distunguish between self and not-self. You feel at one with--well, whatever you're inclined to feel at one with. Humanity. The universe. God......When the self dissolves, the worries and stress that usually batter the self go away, too." How interesting that a brain scan would validate what the Bible says: "he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (I Corinthians 6:17) And Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). Thank You Lord.