The other 90%

"The other 90%" has been running through my head a lot lately. I have been thinking about how scientists have declared that we only use 10% of our brains.

Okay, Lord, if this is true, is the rest of it mush? You are the Creative One, strategic in all You do, so I can't imagine it's just mush. Maybe it's like our appendixes? Useful at one point for consuming raw meat...nah, I doubt that...

I remember a conversation we had with the neurology team when they really really wanted to do a brain biopsy on Noah since EVERYTHING else they thought would give them answers came up inconclusive. I said, "What if the section of brain you want to biopsy is the very part he needs for playing the piano or learning 10 languages?!" They assured me that the part they wanted did not have a known use.

Of course it has no known use because we only function on 10%, so that's the part you are using to make such a declarative statement! Hello! Hellooooo! I don't doubt that humans think it has no use. I do doubt that God, Who created us in His image, made 90% of our brains filler, however. No. As I've been thinking about it, with a radically changed perspective that longs to know God more, just what if, what if, what if that 90% is for life in Heaven? 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." Or, what if it is for more intimacy with God here? I'm not saying it is. BELIEVE ME, I am not saying, "Thus sayeth the Lord." But, what I am saying is being a mom to children on earth and in Heaven, a place I can scarcely wrap my brain around regardless of how many scriptures I read, I would like to think that part is saved for God's presence. The place where I meet Him on my knees here, or maybe saved until I meet Him THERE.

Just the fact that I believe in an unseen God, that I have faith He is real and loves me and desires a relationship with me, a selfish, crusty human on earth...either it's a figment of my imagination or it's part of that 90%? But I tell you what, I could not have thought that one up on my own, that is for sure. It's a smarter thought than I could think of...The King of the Universe, God Almighty, Holy, Beautiful, Righteous, True, Magnificent, Mighty, wanting to actually have a relationship with me. Believe me, I'm not that smart. But, I am that desperate, and because I am, I am grateful that God's love and forgiveness for me is not just a figment of my imagination.

"The other 90%" mentality has helped me think outside the box of earth life. My perspective has changed in the way I seek God, in the way I view and AIM to treat others, in my prayer life, in my pursuit of parenting Emily. Semantically, "The Other 90%" could be called a life led by the Holy Spirit of God.

• In my prayer life, Jesus' words, "Not my will but Yours be done" are literal. A lot of people pray that half-hearted because they are fearful that God's will does not line up with their own. A LOT OF TIMES HIS DOESN'T. But, in the same vein, we think since His will isn't lining up with ours, He's off His rocker. Our way is better. I assure you, losing a son SUCKS, but I can't imagine that Noah is wishing he were back here on earth when he's seen Heaven. Perspective. He has seen that God's way is better.
• In relationships or in meeting new people, there is not one person on earth that God did not create. So, in light of that, I prayerfully seek God's will for our interaction. I don't want to over-spiritualize or under-spiritualize an encounter with another human that God made. Lord, use me to show Your love, or teach me more about Your character, or both, but please help me not to waste the opportunity...
• In parenting, Lord, You have already messed up the way I thought my parenting life would be, so, please show me Emily's gifts so I can encourage them, train her up to love You passionately, and to not just be a nice, polite Christian girl that morphs into society. Lord, there are plenty of those. Please show us as parents how to train Emily up to love You and desire to do Your will in this life. Lord, give her a hope for Your return, not a fear, but an anticipation and desire to spread that to others...

Maybe I think outside the box too much, but it hasn't hurt me so far...