One of my least favorite parts of research in academics was the pursuit for funding. You may have a brilliant idea for an experiment, but it’s merely a pipe dream unless you can obtain the money to perform it. Even the simplest experiments need some sort of funding, at least for the scientist’s time. Knowing that, when I read about SOME research topics, I instantly think who in their right mind PAID someone to do that research?!?!
One scientific article that recently made me feel this way had the title, “High-Heels Linked to Heel and Ankle Pain”.
This seems the most OBVIOUS thing. If you’ve ever been around any woman who is wearing high heels, you know this to be true. Despite this, researchers at the Institute for Aging Research of Hebrew SeniorLife, Harvard Medical School Affiliate, took the time to analyze foot examination data from over 3,300 men and women. Sure enough, their results showed that “nearly 64 percent of women who reported hind-foot pain regularly wore these types of shoes at some point in their life.”
I can’t believe that this needed further explanation than our common knowledge, but these people investigated it AND got their research published in a scientific journal. It seems crazy to me that someone could be so clueless that they would wear heels, have foot pain, but then couldn’t figure out why they had that pain without the extra clarification from a scientific journal. Then I remember that we all have those blind spots. We all have those times where the answer is right in front of us.
One of my favorite examples of this in the Bible is from John 13. This passage makes me laugh out loud every time. I’ll let you read it and see for yourself.
Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
There are plenty of examples of Jesus being cryptic throughout the gospels, but He literally says the one that I hand the morsel to will betray me, then hands the morsel to Judas. How are the disciples possibly still confused? How do they not immediately get upset with Judas? Jesus could not be any more obvious!
I’m sitting here losing my mind. Am I crazy? Is there something I’m missing that makes this a difficult concept? But then I’m humbled, and I have to remind myself, “Dani, how many times has Jesus practically done jumping jacks in front of you with a big flashing sign telling you the answer, and you still were confused?” I’ll tell you; it’s too many times. People say so often that they wish God would just tell them the answer, that He would be more clear, but sometimes He is ridiculously clear and we still completely miss the point. We are humans and we have our own ways of looking at the world. Unfortunately, sometimes our way of looking is the opposite direction of Jesus doing jumping jacks. He is right there trying to tell us, but we don’t have eyes to see or ears to hear.
I know it is hard to believe, but all too often God’s desire for us has been plainly laid out for us and we still ask for clarification. This week I will be praying for God to open my eyes and my ears so that I can see His plan for me. (And maybe Him doing jumping jacks too!)
