Life’s Principle: Evolve to Survive: Reshuffle Information: exchange and alter information to create new options
When I was in my early 20s I was asked by a friend if I would give “The Prodigal” talk at a Christian weekend retreat. There are two things to know about this request. One, “the prodigal” refers to the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15:11-32. The youngest of two sons asks his father for his inheritance to be given to him presently so he does not have to wait until his father dies. Nice. The father complies and splits his wealth and gives both sons their inheritance. The oldest son continues the life of an eldest son in that culture. He is responsible, cares for the fields, and does what his father asks. The youngest says, “thanks dad, I’m off” and travels to distant lands having a good time and squandering the money until there is no money left and he is starving. A farmer hires him to feed the pigs, and I imagine the son, so desperate to eat, getting nose to snout close with pigs over a slop trough, comes to his senses and thinks that even his father’s servants eat better than he. The son returns home hoping his father will allow him to be a slave, but the father welcomes him with open arms and throws a party for his “prodigal” son.
Two, I was no prodigal. I am the oldest of two daughters. Fairly responsible, obedient (most of the time), a pleaser, didn’t want to cause trouble for my parents.
I flippantly replied to my friend’s request that I was more like the oldest son in the story. I stayed behind and was responsible. In my best highfalutin voice I said I could give no “prodigal” talk. My friend smiled and said that I could, and she wanted me to give the talk from the perspective of the brother who stayed behind.
When you hear the “Prodigal Son'' story, the emphasis is usually on the reunion of the prodigal and the father. Let’s reshuffle though because there is much to be learned from the eldest brother who stayed. The eldest, having been responsible and tending the field all day, makes his way home. I imagine it’s dark, but the eldest son’s feet know this well traveled route. He hears music coming from the direction of the house. And voices, laughter, people having a good time. At his house! What’s going on? He meets a servant on the porch who tells him his youngest brother has returned and there is celebrating in the house! His father has killed and prepared a fattened calf to celebrate! The servant tries to take the brother’s hand, to pull him into the celebration, but the eldest is not having it. He is tired, stinky, dirty, and hungry. He has stayed. All these years, he has stayed. And worked. And tended. And saved. The music seems to get louder and pulse from his feet to his head, or is that his anger and resentment rising through his body? His father comes, reaching for him to include him in the festivities, but the eldest wants no part. He spews terrible words at his father: “I’ve worked hard for you,” I’ve never asked you for anything,” “I’ve always obeyed,” “I never got a fattened calf to serve at a party with my friends,” “I stayed and behaved and your youngest son gallivants up and down the Las Vegas strip and you welcome him back with a party and fattened calf?” The eldest could keep going with these sentiments that have been unknowingly pent up inside him, but his father gently says “you have son, you have stayed with me, worked by my side. Everything I have is yours.” His voice starts to rise with excitement, “Your brother is home. We thought he was dead, but he’s alive. Look! There he is dancing in our living room. We thought he was dead. But he is alive!”
The eldest was a prodigal; he was not reckless with his physical inheritance- the money, the fields, the work. He was reckless with his father’s teachings, time, and spiritual investment.
Reshuffle Information: Genetics
I learned to shuffle a deck of cards in 2nd grade during a snowstorm. My mother was an excellent shuffler and she showed me how to separate the deck into two piles. Then she taught me how to hold a pile in each hand between my thumb and the last three fingers, with my index finger on top of the cards. (Yes, I pulled out a deck of cards to reenact.) The tricky part was then using the index fingers to gently apply pressure to the middle of the pile while the thumbs decrease pressure so you get this gentle shuffle of cards into a single deck. In humans, we have a pile of genes from our mother and a pile from our father that are shuffled into one deck creating ourselves. If we have siblings, that same process happens and there is a totally different human created. Then, if we have children, our pile of genes is shuffled with a partner’s pile of genes. This reshuffling creates genetic diversity. This genetic diversity aids in “adaptation to novel or changing environments.”
DivineSite
27 ‘ “Your brother’s come home!” he said. “And your father has thrown a great party – he’s killed the fattened calf! – because he’s got him back safe and well!” 28 ‘He flew into a rage, and wouldn’t go in. ‘Then his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 “Look here!” he said to his father, “I’ve been slaving for you all these years! I’ve never disobeyed a single commandment of yours. And you never even gave me a young goat so I could have a party with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours comes home, once he’s finished gobbling up your livelihood with his whores, you kill the fattened calf for him!” 31 ‘ “My son,” he replied, “you’re always with me. Everything I have belongs to you. 32 But we had to celebrate and be happy! This brother of yours was dead and is alive again! He was lost, and now he’s found!” ’ (Luke 15: 27-32 New Testament for Everyone)
Humility- n. a modest or low view of one's own importance
Humility may be one of those characteristics you feel you have. Like the brother, until your father throws a big party for your contrite brother! Do you read the Bible with humility? Is the Bible about humans or God? We have a habit of reading the Bible to affirm what we believe, leaving little room for what God could be showing us. Like the story of The Prodigal, many never consider the brother. Like many who read the Bible, they can not imagine that God’s story would have anything to say about non-human creation. But it does. And something it points to is God revealed through creation right outside our doors. What are you learning from creation?