have you heard....

I have too much to say- so this blog is just going to be ramblings---
I was listening to my 2nd favorite podcast last night- Radio Lab. For those of you who don't listen, it is these two guys tackling science questions in a fun and interesting way. This week's "lesson" was on the science of emergence- or the idea that the group is smarter than the individual. They told cool stories about lightning bugs in Thailand all blinking in unison- like a blinking Christmas tree all through the jungle. They also talked about how ants "work" - individually they are stupid, but collectively they are incredible engineers, scanvengers, hunters, etc. They also told about this science experiement where they put an ox in front of a whole village and asked everyone to guess how much it weighed. No one got it right- but if you gave the mean of the whole group that guessed, they were only 1 pound off!!! INCREDIBLE!!!
Ok- so that is the background. I just sat there listening to these stories, of how clearly there is a "system" that we all seem to fall into- but no one can explain. There is a way we work together that makes things better- but individually no one can see it. There are times when we seem to be doing out own thing, but in reality we are working to a greater good that is completely invisible to us. And all of these stories just made me think- WOW, what a cool God. He is working everything...and let's us think that we are important on some level!
It also made me think of how the Body of Christ works- individually coming together for something bigger than any of us. I think of how we fall into what God has grown in us, how He seems to prepare our hearts for the things in front of us- and how when we walk together things that are incredible happen.
It also reminds me that we have to see others as important. I can't live as if only my life matters- because the people around me are in this "system" too...and I don't know what role they play. So, I have to think of them as more important than myself- I have to swear allegiance to nothing but the Gospel- I have to see the goal as the Kingdom and see that God is working through the group as well as the individual. And, I have to give some props to those around me because they might just make me smarter :)