Because sometimes I forget.
The last few weeks of reflection have brought something to mind that was a fairly interesting revelation to me. It wasn’t an all-at-once sort of realization, but more of a compilation of many thoughts I’ve had over the last couple of years. This post (series) is an exercise in thinking through it more clearly, and also is a type of confession.
I’m splitting this up into several posts, not as a traffic gimmick or something, but because of time constraints.
It should be known that the God I speak of is the God of the Christian Bible. This is the subject of another post altogether. Perhaps I’ll get there at the end of this. Hang with me.
The first three things that remind me that I’m not God:
### 1. Hunger
I dislike being hungry. It reminds me that I am a mortal creature that is dependent on the world around me. It reminds me that we have to work very hard to produce food (or produce cash to buy food, or earn cash to buy food). Ultimately it reminds me that it used to not be this way, and that someone else is in charge of my life.
This causes me to try to avoid feeling hungry. Whenever I feel even slightly hungry, reflexively, I eat, to try and re-assert some dominance over my domain. Rarely, if ever, do I allow myself to simply sit with the feeling, and reflect on the fact that I am a dependent creature. This is why I am overweight (not grossly so… 225lbs at 6’2″, but enough that it reminds me of all these things.)
### 2. Sleep
At certain points during the day, especially in the evening, my productivity drops to nil. I am forced to cease activity, and surrender to an overwhelming urge to sleep. I can stave this off with drugs (caffeine), but not for long, and always with longer term negative consequence. Prolonged periods of wakefulness actually drive human beings insane.
This, like hunger, reminds me that I am a weak, mortal creature. It also reminds me that I serve a God who never slumbers nor sleeps, which is comforting. But ultimately humiliating (which is also a good thing).
### 3. Lack of Knowledge
I hate not knowing something. Deep down a part of me hates people realizing that I don’t know something. (Yes, this is ridiculous.) Two tendencies result from this.
1. I try to know a little about everything. Dangerous, and ridiculous.
2. At times, I will speak about something that I know nothing about as if I knew about it. Also dangerous and ridiculous.
I try to read as much as I can and have a finger on the pulse of “culture” (the world around me, current events, trends, fashions, music, etc…). This is an endless pursuit and can get a little out of hand for me from time to time. The funny thing is, I feel like a bit of a failure when I don’t keep up. The failure? Failure to be God.
This is a reminder that I serve an omniscient God.
More to come.
Leave a Reply