Skip to main content

When The Brain Throws Its Own Private Party


That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him.  It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked. “Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered. (Esther 6:1-3) 

          I can relate to poor King Xerxes. I yawn, my brain calls for the bouncer to throw me out, so it can lock up, and the clock tells me it’s time to go to bed. I put everything away, turn out the light, crawl into bed and… I’m wide awake. My mind is racing a hundred miles an hour trying to figure out (in last night’s case) a quilting pattern that will somehow represent the nine surviving (until recently) jidekers (schools/libraries.) It’s not a difficult pattern, but which color goes with which jideker? Is there a symbol that I can try to find in a fabric, etc. The king’s solution is probably better than mine. If I got up and read for five minutes, or wrote for five minutes in my journal, I’d probably fall right to sleep. I just let the mind that kicked me out have its own private party for a couple hours and take a nap or two the next day when I’m supposed to be working.
           Xerxes calls on his staff to come read to him of the glories of his past deeds. “Once upon a time… some insignificant, regular guy named Mordecai discovered a plot to assassinate the king. He reported it, and the ensuing investigation saved the king’s life. The end.” 
          “Wait…wait… you missed a part. What happened to the ‘happily ever after’? I mean, yes, I have lived happily ever after, but what about Mordecai?”
          “What about Mordecai?”
          “Well, did I, I don’t know, pay off his school loans? His mortgage? Did I give him a job? Did I invite him to a party? Did I even send him a worthless thank you note?” (Clerk’s translation: did you, did anyone?)
         Clerk reads associated memos. “Um, no.”
          “Well, we’ve got to do something!”
          The clerk thinks, “We? How about going to sleep?”
          Three more reasons why it’s good to journal. It helps when you can’t sleep, it reminds you of your shortcomings and your goals, and it gives you ideas.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more