Joyful Transformation

I don’t think I told you what I got for Mother’s Day. My son & daughter in law got me a sweet bracelet engraved with “MiMi. David let me order a new lap-top and since it the week before Mothers Day he also got me a Blue Tooth headset for my cell phone. I am such a techno-nerd wanna-be. But the truth is my old lap top was a 1998 model and it was purchased for me by the place I worked for at the time so this is technically my first home computer (don’t be deceived, David has had MANY). I did wait on the Blue Tooth until the technology was cheaper. This may be my favorite new toy.

Anyway I got to thinking about computers last night. Even though my knowledge is limited, I always seem to be the one everyone turns to for answers at the office. When they come to me with problems with email, printers or whatever the first question I ask them is if they have “re-booted”. Usually when they do the problem is solved.

Computers have a way of storing little bits and pieces of programs and information in packets that makes it more accessible and makes your computer run faster. However, when a program is closed or a file deleted these packets do not go away. After awhile they will start to clutter up your processing efficiency. The only way to clear these up is to “re-boot”.

Our brain works much the same way. We associate certain things with other things and this connection stays out there in our “short-term memory”. Sometimes even when we have changed our mind about things or grown beyond something, our brain will tell us something different. A couple of examples;

1. When I was living at my parent’s home we had to ask to be excused from the table if we finished eating before everyone else did. To this day I do not like to leave the table at my Mother’s house until everyone is finished eating. If I do I am tempted to ask for permission.
2. One time when my son was a teenager he was on the phone with one of his buddies at bedtime. I told him to say “goodnight Deke”. He did except he added “I love you”. Habit, the words just followed goodnight in his world. (yes we continue to razz him about this to this day)

I think many of us have associated being close to God or being “right” with going to church. When we don’t attend every service (if we are brought up this way) we let it these memories cause guilt. I feel like many people today would struggle to define their relationship with God separate and apart (you know like giving) from the church. They practice morality, they practice church membership, but the concept of living like Jesus or being Jesus to their neighbors is a foreign concept. I have many hang-ups and out-dated ideals from my years of worshipping the church. There are many concepts that I have totally changed my mind about, yet there is this little cache of memory nagging at the edge of my mind causing me to be confused and causing doubt. I have talked some about a detoxing process, but perhaps what I really need to do is “re-boot”.