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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
When Chemistry became Biology
What are we made of?
photo by Michael Halloran
the stuff of stars
the elements of the periodic table
concocted of chemicals that explode,
ions that interact,
molecules that relate.
We are the stuff of life.
No more, no less
and yet.
Yet,
we think, and move
and have our being.
Somehow we animated,
went from sketch to living color.
Our chemistry became biology,
we moved from dead in our tracks
to alive and well.
Well, not so well.
Our chemistry is faulty, we say,
prone to pesticides and processed to pieces.
Our environment does us in, we say,
nothing to be done about the ways of the world.
Our bodies betray us, we say,
resenting the long hours and little pay.
Who would fault us for losing hope in them?
Except,
the One who made us,
who imagined our being.
The chemist who
connected our elements,
shaped our molecules,
formulated our reactions,
exploded our contents.
This One,
the only one present when
our chemistry became our biology.
When we came to life.
It’s true!!
What if someone knocked on your door with the news that your life’s work, everything you believed to be true, was confirmed? Would you let him in to show you the evidence?
The young scientist who has discovered the first tremors of the Big Bang – a light wave pattern which is evidence of gravitational waves from the birth of the universe – records the moment he shared the news with Professor Andre Linde, the orginator of the the Big Bang theory, and his wife.
Watch his (and her) reaction:
The look on his face, the understanding expression of his wife, the glee of the young man delivering the news. It’s palpable.
Like every good scientist Linde hesitates. “I hope it is not a trick.” And it adds credibility that these scientists respect the work enough never to jump to conclusions. But they hope. Oh, they hope. That what they have imagined is fulfilled here. That this is the remaining part of the story, the one piece missing. The “smoking gun” evidence to confirm and convict. It’s their ‘Oh my God, it’s true’ moment.
As a scientist and a Christian, I am overjoyed to see faith and science greet each other this way. The “how” of creation is completely satisfying, given the “who” of creation and the inconceivable nature of His power to create.
This moment, the moment of complete illumination when the final piece is placed, must be so satisfying. It just gives me a glimpse of what must happen each time Christ knocks and we answer. And that final time, when He ushers us to the heavenly Kingdom and opens the gate. Oh my God! All I hoped for but was afraid to believe, there it is! Let me step in, just to be sure.
I imagine that moment would look very like this one.
The Kinesthetic Christian 