Gut Wrenching Insights, Seriously
As some of you might have gathered from this post, it’s been quite an adventure at my house for the past week.
I’ll spare you all the details, but suffice it to say that each member of the Bradley family has now taken part in sharing what appears to be a 24 hour stomach virus. My own experience, unpleasant though it was, taught me something, however — seriously.
This past Tuesday night, my lovely bride made for me a special meat filled, manly man, hearty, warm you down to the bones on a chilly night, stew. Which is something I normally love, mind you.
But not this night. This night I was in fact repulsed by the stew — on a deep, emotional, and gutteral level. Odd how something can one day seem appealing and life affirming, and the next day seem disgusting and poisonous…
I’m proud to report now that the ill effects of the virus have subsided, and the appeal of the stew for me has been restored.
This was not my bride’s experience a number of years ago, however. When she was pregnant with our firstborn, her first bout of morning sickness was regrettably brought on by a bowl of otherwise excellent turkey soup. On the day after Thanksgiving, 1994.
To this day turkey soup has lost its appeal for her. Her experience back in 1994 forever changed her — leaving her with an emotional aftertaste that still lingers.
Which got me thinking… Though we often like to think of ourselves as logical beings — especially with regard to our beliefs and theology — I wonder how many of us are living with emotional aftertastes, perhaps that we’re even not aware of, which color our perspective and shape our worldview?
Perhaps this is why words like church, God, Jesus, and Bible for some are positive, appealing words — while for others they seem to conjure up negative images and gut level reactions of disgust?
Maybe this is why we have trouble understanding each other at times? Could it be that the “irrational” responses we see in others would make much more sense if we knew more about a person’s life experiences? Could it be that our own “rational” behaviors are in fact shaped by gut level emotional aftertastes, springing from our own past experiences?
I’d love to hear other’s thoughts on this.
Do you have any emotional aftertastes that you’re aware of?
How do you handle the tension between head and heart/gut? Which is a bigger insult for you — to be called “irrational” or “heartless?”
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yes good reminder. we believe what we do, think what we do… because of the ‘information’ (in many forms) we have up to this point.
Abraham Lincoln was a big proponent (is that the word?) of this thought. He was famous for numerous times saying something along the lines of, “don’t condemn them. they are doing what’s right by them”. the old ‘walk in each other’s shoes’ adage would go well here too huh?
love can rise above all — and during conflict/disagreements - those times are sometimes the best times to spread Jesus’ lesson, Truths and tone around isn’t it?
have a great day
a
Steve- you have NO idea how true this particular wrestling match is going on in me right now! Thanks for putting words to it!!
I feel completely irrational right now…got “invited” to join a church that I really like….which scares the snot out of me and makes me run….which makes me feel bad….which makes me want to hang out there more…which makes me get more connected…which freaks me out….which makes me run….
UGGGGGGHHH!!!
-Randi Jo — good thoughts — “beliefs” aren’t as simple as we think they are, are they? Wondering if the second comment was an error or a letter grade?
-Laura — oh, I know those kind of wrestling matches. I wonder how much of our calling to “die to our self” involves us confronting our fears and deep seated prejudices that conflict with what God’s calling us to do?
lol it must have been a mistake because if it was a letter grade it would have been A+!
Happy thanksgiving!! (early!)
What a great post! One of the reasons I don’t care for most evangelistic outreaches (like EE etc) is that so many people do have those weird reactions to the church words. We can pray so much more effectively if we take that into consideration.
BTW, guacamole is my trigger. Please don’t ever serve me guacamole.
Happy Thanksgiving! ANd skip the turkey soup!
-Randi Jo — wow, my grade went up! Hope you and your family have a great Thanksgiving as well!
-Ginger — so great to hear from you! Tell Phillip and the kids I said Hi. Hope y’all have a great Thanksgiving — and yes, Lee will definitely be avoiding the turkey soup…