Happy
Brain
On
passing through the kitchen one morning, I overheard a conversation that my
wife, Judy, was having with our three-year-old grandson, Ben. She was
questioning Ben about body parts: legs, arms, fingers, eyes, and ears. He's a
smart kid so he had all the right answers. When Judy pointed to Ben’s head, he
answered “happy brain.” That stopped me in my tracks.
I've
always associated “happy” with a different body part, the heart, never the
brain. I couldn't get this idea of a happy brain out of my head. I wondered
whatever made a three year old make the connection between happy and brain. Later
I went back and asked Ben and Judy what they meant about this happy brain
business. They looked at me as if something was wrong with me.
The
more I thought about this the more curious I got. I got my dictionary out and
looked up the definition of happy: “feeling pleasure or enjoyment because of
your life; being content and not needing more.” I guess that when you are three
and all your needs are being met, your brain can get stuck on happy. My brain
is usually on overload with life issues that don't have much room for happy.
My
problem is that I can't shake the thought that my brain can be happy. Being the
kind of person who is preoccupied with getting all his ducks lined up and
keeping them that way, there is not a lot of room left room for happy in my
brain. Could it be that my brain needs to get a little closer to where my heart
is? Maybe Ben is onto something.
Jesus
has something to say about this: “I’m telling you, once and for all, that
unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even
going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple
and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom.”
I
purpose to let my heart leak into my brain!
No comments:
Post a Comment