Show Your Brain Who Is Boss

Sometimes I have to tell my brain to work.

I don’t mean with caffeine or a brisk walk, necessarily—although both those things are usually part of my day. I mean I sometimes have to tell my brain that it’s time to lift my leg. Or that I really do have two thumbs. Or that, once upon a time, not so long ago, I was right-handed.

When the conditions, weather, and planets are aligned just so, and I hold my mouth just right, I can even turn certain door knobs or press a few keys on my laptop. I may not do it as well as I once could, but I do it.

I have brain trauma because of a large tumor, a grand mal seizure, and an awful case of staph meningitis. God saw fit for me to survive all that, but ever since, daily life has been a little more work than it used to be.

But, with all that said, I’m still the manager of this flesh-and-blood supercomputer in my head.

True, I can’t control how well it sends messages to my nerves and I still have some numbness, but here’s what I’ve found: if I decide I’m doing badly, my movements are worse, but if I push through and keep stretching for better, I nearly always improve, at least for a while.

The problem is, literally, all in my head. I can let paralysis lock me up and knock me down, or, like Steve Rogers (Captain America), I can keep popping back up and say, “I can do this all day,” and I do.

But I find that I can apply this to my mind as well. Whether I wake up in a funk because of something that doesn’t even matter, or if I start dwelling on some pain from the past that I’ve fought with and forgiven but keeps coming back, I’m the boss.

When Jesus was leaving His disciples after the Last Supper, He told them, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” ‭‭John‬ ‭14:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. Even though He knew all they were about to go through, He told them not to let their hearts be troubled.

I see “Let not your heart be troubled” as Jesus saying, “You have authority over how troubled you are. You can stop it. Tell your heart who’s boss.”

It’s debatable whether the heart and the mind are the same, but they’re at least linked. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37).

He wants our hearts, souls, minds, bodies and brains. The whole shebang. He’s the boss, but He gives us the reins over them as well.

But sometimes you really can’t control what’s up there and you need help. Yes, you are the boss of your brain, for the most part, but even the boss needs to turn things over to the Executive.

Before Jesus ascended He said He’d be with us always (Matt 28:20). I know it’s ironic that as He rose up away from everyone He said He’d be with us always, as He’s at the right hand of the Father, but He really is with us. If you are a born-again follower of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit in you, and you’ve been adopted by the Father. This verse sums it up so well:

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:15-17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Also, Hebrews 4:16 reminds us that we can “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

So when we battle with our minds and just can’t be the boss anymore, we get to barge into the ultimate boardroom, with the Holy Spirit as our escort, but also be welcomed in because we are the CEO’s kid.