Integration by Divine Design

How much effort do you put into compartmentalizing your life? We who live in America are surrounded by a culture that encourages us to separate our lives into nice little boxes. This is especially true of those who are male. We already have compartmentalized brains before we are born. Yes, as God knit you together in your mother's womb you were blasted with testosterone which effectively broke down connections in your brain. This is very useful when faced with sudden decisions. We are designed to jump to the emergency box there in the caverns of our minds and leave the other boxes closed so we can focus on the demand at hand. Women, on the other hand, have a vastly greater number of brain connections, thus they are far more integrated in their thoughts. That is why you can start a conversation about the funny noise the car makes, flow to Aunt Ellen, then to what happened at the store and end with an event that happened at the office seamlessly. You find "obvious" connections while your male friend stands staring glassy eyed and at a loss as to how you ended up where you are. Don't blame him. Be patient. He was brain damaged before birth. However, even with the advantage of God's design, females are still prone to be victims of culture. A measure of compartmentalization is almost inevitable.

Why does this matter? It matters because the Word of God is written from a more eastern perspective. The Hebrew culture is far more integrated than our western, American culture. For much of life this appears to have minimal effect. It seems most find little concern or are unaware of the cultural differences. However, one of the reasons we suffer culturally as a nation is the lack of integration in our lives. It offers us the opportunity to have lives that fall into segregated categories. Life can be, in a broad sense, broken down into the sacred and the secular. Many have their religious life and beliefs held in one compartment and their secular lives in another. One of my strongest political memories was hearing a presidential candidate explain that he was, "a Christian and a good Baptist, but he would never let his religious beliefs interfere with how he governed." Most believers, those following Messiah Jesus, would find this a less than positive approach to faith and life. However, many politicians find their way to official places of power through the elective process. It seems that many compartmentalized "Christians", those who set aside their Biblical principles, can support one who will not let Christian or Biblical values interfere with how they govern.

In a more insidious attack, the enemy of our souls finds ways to deceive us or allow us to deceive ourselves. We watch things, listen to things, share things that are damaging to our spirits while placing them in the "entertainment" box or the "being informed box". Gossip is not gossip, it is the "prayer need" box. I am not suggesting that we become cloistered in a monastery to avoid contamination from the world; however, we may become callous to the impact such exposure has on our lives. We have the employee box, parent box, spouse box, church box, entertainment box, income box, and a plethora of other boxes. "I gave my ten percent, I helped with the clean up day, I went to his little league game, I bought her flowers, my boxes are checked off. I completed my responsibilities so I am off to the "fishing box" or "cycling box" or "classic car box". We never intend to separate God out of parts of our lives; however, western culture actually encourages us to do so. God designed us to be integrated people. We are to present all of our lives as living sacrifices.

I have been reminded of this over the past few weeks. First I should explain. I thrive on physical activity. I go to the gym four times a week. I cut, split and stack six cords of wood every year for my wood stove. I actually like shoveling snow, working in my yard and renovating a house the Lord gave us. Plywood, Sheetrock, two by sixes, moving walls, replacing floors, enhances my appreciation for life and keeps me in balance. All this has been taken away. Back in February, about ten weeks ago, I gave myself a hernia shoveling heavy wet snow off of the walkway at our church. Enter Workman's Compensation claim. I will finally see a surgeon this coming week to then schedule my needed surgery. The actual surgery could wait until May, followed by whatever recovery time is needed. In the meantime I cannot lift over ten pounds. I also have continuing discomfort that builds as the days and weeks go by. I have noticed that my left leg is now not happy, neither is my lower back. The rest of my abdominal area is likewise joining into the discomfort arena. I did not ask these other body parts to join into empathetic discomfort with the original injury. What has happened is the rest of my physical being is trying to compensate for the wounded part. It has also had an effect on my sleep which has left me less that mentally alert from time to time. This has led to a bit of insensitivity to those around me. This in turn has had an effect on my spirit and an occasional irritation and frustration with the limitations God has allowed in my life.

I did not ask for the rest of my body to join in the hernia event. They just did. I never had a moment when I thought, "If I walk with more pressure on my left leg my right side will have a little less discomfort." I never told my lower back to be more tense to lend support to my abdominal muscles. They just do. That is due to the reality that God designed my body to be integrated. Every part works together and compensates for the one that is not up to par, And this does not just relate to my physical parts. My mental, emotional, and spiritual life is also affected. It happens automatically without thought simply because God designed me that way. Our lives are to be like that. All the parts working together as an integrated whole. There are no boxes. You are an employee, parent, spouse, neighbor, whatever else you are, all the time. Every aspect of life touches every other aspect of life. What you believe should permeate all that makes up life. No need to ask if you are in the "God box" for you are always in the God box. The parent box is with you at work. You pass up the promotion because it will damage your relationship with your child or your spouse or your church family. The spouse box is with you when you plan dinner out and flowers instead of the new tackle box, or did we just slide into the fishing box? Or maybe you skip dinner and the tackle box is for your daughter as you take her fishing for the first time. So does that make this the child box or dad box or money box? No boxes, just you. It is honestly a challenge to see how all the parts of your life should overlap and blend into every other part. However, that is how God put us together. Don't let culture rob you of God's design. Throw out the boxes and see how the Creator of life wants to saturate every area of your life and bring it all into an integrated and enjoyable whole.