Brain Games

Philippians 4:6-7 -- "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

While the rest of the house was fast asleep my concentration remained glued to the television while comedian Ben Baily "encouraged" a volunteer to finish the nerve-racking game, Perfection. I don't know how I would have fared had he been yelling mean things right over MY shoulder but I DO know that the ticking of the board game timer would have made me jittery enough to miss the mark. If you are unfamiliar with this timeless game, the point is to place all the pieces into the properly shaped spaces before the timer is up and the board jumps up at you throwing said pieces into disarray.

An interesting fact? Stress has an enormous amount of negative impact on our brain function. This is not myth, it's scientific fact. Back when we were all settlers living in bear country and had to go hunt for our dinner and milk our own cows, stress was more often than not - useful. It generated a quick response to the flight or fight scenario we may have encountered on a daily basis. But in modern society our "primitive" stress triggers do more harm than good. The truth of the matter is that when putting the pieces into the game board our short term memory is severely compromised when Ben Baily yells mean things at us from over our shoulder. Just the stress of beating the timer is enough to throw most people off their A-game. But when Ben lowered the volume of his voice, stepped back from the volunteers, and began to truly encourage them - every single player was able to beat the timer. 

Still not convinced? In the same television program our host issued a slew of rapid-fire commands at a test audience comprised of all ages and both genders. Every single volunteer was able to quickly do the things shouted out in command. But when the host asked if they could tell him the fourth thing on his to-do list - not one single person was able to answer correctly. Not one! Even though the list had only eight things to accomplish, no one could remember the fourth one on that list. Why? Stress impairs our short-term memory. It can also lead us to make the wrong decisions. In fact - enough stress can cause us to become incapable of handling the simplest of things - though we may be a pro at most of them on a normal basis. 

We no longer live in bear country rushing around dense foliage to catch our dinner. When our brain is flooded with "stress hormones" - they rush into a blood stream that has little if anything to actually DO to improve our situation. In heavy traffic? We can't run from it or step into a boxing ring to see who's stronger. Spill coffee on your new computer? What are we gonna do about it? Ask the offending coffee cup to put it's dukes up or run out of the room screaming? While we might feel tempted to do those things, most of us would choose NOT to. So all those chemicals floating around in our brain have nowhere to go and nothing to do. It's no wonder multitasking in high stress environments has been linked to early symptoms associated with Alzheimer's and dementia. 

Somehow, Paul already knew this way back when he wrote his letter to the church in Philippi. He reminds his fellow believers that they should not be anxious about anything. In fact, he even instructs them to pray - knowing that the peace of God will guard their hearts! GUARD THEIR HEARTS! 

PEACE = SAFETY!

Ever notice how Yoga and Zen gardens have reached an all-time high in popularity? We NEED calm. We NEED peace. It isn't just a luxury to be enjoyed on a rare spa day, it's a necessity. We CANNOT function efficiently for very long without those things. 

Got a lot of STUFF going on in your life? It's not just cliche' to tell you to lay all those things at the feet of our Father. HE can handle the things we don't understand, we don't want to deal with, AND all the things that are thrown at us that cause stress in our lives. Why don't we really let HIM take them? They certainly aren't doing US any good.