Please forgive me for so rudely abandoning you for the last two weeks. I promise I'm not mad at you. I hope you are not now mad at me...
I was in the midst of composing a post about the underside of in-between times, but then over the last couple weeks I ended up getting to spend lots of great time with several interesting people whom I love.
So, instead of depressed musings, here is a short reflection on the wisdom of creation - namely, the interconnectedness of our beings.
I have had my moments of discouragement this summer, with their varying levels of intensity and duration. One's experience of in-between times depends a lot on the perspective we have at the moment. For example, when I think of this time as an opportunity for reflection and to transition from the input of school to the output of work, my outlook is fairly positive. On the other hand, when I emphasize to myself the fact that I'm in my mid-twenty's, unemployed, and living with my parents, my outlook is not so positive. Sometimes I am able to choose which perspective I take, and other times it seems more like it chooses me.
Anyway, I was in the midst of a more extended period of not-so-positive-ness when several people's schedules converged to line me up with multiple reunions with friends. I will tell you right now, that was exactly what the doctor ordered... or would have ordered if I had gone to see her. Speaking of which, I should probably try to do that one last time before my insurance runs out...
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| This fantastic picture from 2008 contains several of the people I got to see recently. |
Everyone needs friends. They're good for the soul.
I speak mainly from my own emotional experiences, but as I challenged myself to think more deeply about this claim, I have confirmed that this fact is compatible with my scientific research and reasoning as well as my theological convictions. In the following I will attempt to highlight my most significant observations:
1) We are integrated beings - body, mind, emotions, and soul. Each area of our well-being (or bad-being?) affects the others. For example, when I'm hungry (body), I often feel tired (mind), and I'm much more likely to be grumpy (emotions), and have a less positive outlook on life, the world, and God (soul).
This makes sense from a scientific position: Science is so cool!! Even my limited knowledge of it. This section could get out of hand way too easily, so for now I will suffice it to say that everything we experience or do can be described as a complex series of chemical reactions. So, since we are one big bundle of intricately integrated chemical systems, a change in one area inevitably causes at least some change in every other area. So the way we eat affects the way we feel. Or the way we move affects the way we think. Etc. And vice versa. So given the chemical integration of our lives (at the very least), it makes sense that the presence and quality of friendships has a bearing on our overall experience of life. As a statistical example of this integration, an article I was reading recently mentioned that a study showed that children of military personnel visited the doctor 11% more when their parent was deployed than when s/he was at home (see Children's Ministry, March/April 2011 pg. 30). I don't want to discuss the military right now, but I mention this because it highlights the connection between our relationships and our various forms of health.
From a theological perspective, this also makes sense: As Christians, we believe that we and our world were created by God to work together! When we study complex ecosystems, we marvel at the creativity and complexity God conceived and executed. I've never made a terrarium (you know, a self-contained ecosystem in a jar), but I always thought the idea was super-cool. Each terrarium must have a delicate balance of water, air, plants and other complimentary organisms that all work together to survive/thrive. Every element needs the others. If one was missing, the survival of the mini-ecosystem (or in real life, a whole ecosystem!) would be in peril. God designed creation to work as a whole. The same is, of course, true for us as well. Each area of health is linked to the others. They can help one another along (ex: eating healthy and exercising regularly often improves one's outlook on life), or drag one another down (ex: why depression can be a devastatingly downward spiral). Not only do we believe that God designed this integration within our own bodies and lives, but we also believe that God intended us to be integrated into community with each other as well. The technical term for this is ecclesiology. We were created to live in relationships.
So from both scientific and theological perspectives, it makes sense why we experience good relationships as beneficial to our holistic well-being.
2) It is important to know and be known. Scientifically, evolutionary theory conjectures that we are highly relational beings because our survival as a species required cooperation and mutual protection. Our long childhood/maturing process makes us (in many moments, helplessly) dependent upon others as we grow up, and the responsibility for caring for children (and elderly & other dependents), as well as ourselves, requires us to remain interdependent upon one another. Our survival and health depend upon living in mutual, healthy and health-giving relationships. Theologically, we claim that God knows and deeply cares for each one of us individually. This care is modeled, experienced, and expressed by the "Body of Christ" - the human community. Not only were we designed to live in community, but it is in the context of this community that we encounter God!
Our beings and our world are amazing! The way God designed the Creation is incredible and I am so thankful for the ways it is orchestrated together. I am particularly grateful for the good gifts of friends who are able to lift me up and encourage me with their friendship.
In-between times can be tough, but we will make it through with the help of God, which comes to us in many different forms. So pay attention for the multifaceted ways Christ is at work in our midst, we will not be disappointed.
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