Lillian Daniel: The Brain's Brief Moment

"Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding . . ." - Proverbs 3:13 

I recently learned that the frontal lobe of the human brain does not close until the age of 25. So, before the age of twenty-five, your brain is still in development.  

If you are under twenty-five, consider this as you make any big decisions in your life.  Watch out. Don't do anything crazy. Furthermore, don't do anything you think is sane, because it could turn out to be crazy. What seems smart now may not look so smart tomorrow, or after that frontal lobe closes.  

If you are over the age of twenty-five, take a minute to look back on the big decisions you made before that landmark. Is there evidence in your life that you made some choices without a fully developed brain? I could write a list, myself.  

But before we get smug about the decision-making ability of older and wiser people, let's add one more piece of information into the mix. Once the frontal lobe closes and the brain is developed, you enter the beginning of the decline. It's all downhill from there.  

So what's the answer? Quick, make all your big decisions in that one key year! Set your life course at twenty-five and never revise it. Hold fast!  

But that can't be the right answer.  

There's more to life than brainpower. No matter when you make the big decisions, gray matter is just one small piece of it.  Let's not forget love, the Holy Spirit, other people and sometimes, a huge, unexpected, completely illogical helping of grace. 

Prayer  

Thank you, God, for creating us as wisdom-seeking works in progress, with more to rely on than our brain cells and frontal lobes. Amen.

Taken from UCC's Still Speaking Devotionals. Visit UCC.org