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The unraveling
Doesn’t it seem like there’s a good bit of unraveling going on?
What if that’s necessary? for our expression. our growth. for exerting our purpose in the world. What if that’s part of our design?
This I am wondering as I consider the strands of DNA that are the message of my very being. A double helix of instructions, entwined, coding, transcribed by the tools in place in every single one of my cells. A trillion different messages (or more? how many more?) who rely on an elegant but simple mechanism to be deciphered and read. They must be “unzipped,” unraveled, disentwined to expose their “base” patterns. So a simple train of partner bases can be aligned (job of the mRNA below) along their length, spelling out the message ripe for translating as the proteins necessary for the life work of the cell.
After the unraveling and transcribing, our single, separate DNA strands seek to return to their helical coil, finding their pair and resuming their partnership. This process is wholly dependent on the circumstance of the cytosol — the soupy environment of the cell. It’s highly regulated pH, is absolutely necessary — essential — for the bonds to reform, the reshaping to happen. For the DNA to return to its happy and successful life in the cell.
But what if the environment the unraveled DNA returns to is no longer conducive? if circumstances have changed. if the the pH is no longer welcoming. doesn’t recognize or remember its opposite strand. doesn’t extend its sites for binding because they are now hidden, tucked away, unavailable.
The magnificent DNA, with its elaborate coded plans, will now hover and float in the unforgiving cytosol, twisted but disconnected. It’s intended message mute. Searching for meaning. How hopeless that must feel. A strand of love. A strand of life. Gone their separate ways.
What if our DNA is trying to tell us something?
We’re made to flow downhill
We prefer to take the easy way, the smooth path of least resistance.
We’re made that way.
On the inside, we have
- particles that flow downhill
- electrons that take the short route
- circuits that choose the easy way
We’re made to go with the flow, so we’ll operate smoothly. It’s by design that the easy way is the best way, to save effort for the tough stuff.
The way we work, during business hours, is determined by our
- chemistry
- biology
- physics
The laws of attraction and repulsion, the tipping of imbalance, and the teeter of restoration all answer to the laws of science. It’s the pluses and minuses, the charged and uncharged, the concentration of one versus the other that drives the whole show.
That’s how we’re made on the inside. When we’re in order, the path of least resistance balances us, because these things always hold true:
- plus attracts minus, but like repels like
- greater than moves toward less than until it’s even with
- what’s on, turns off when there’s enough
We’re made that way. We’re made to be this way. We’re made to relate this way.
Simple math. Basic science. Complete genius.
So when the tough stuff comes, after hours,we can apply plenty of effort.
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
The Kinesthetic Christian 