My Brain Is Shrinking
Monday, July 17, 2023
“We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding… No man indulges an error of judgment without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
I have been experiencing hearing loss in my right ear for several years and battling vertigo for several months. As a result, I went to see an audiologist and, after diagnosing me with “moderate to severe” hearing loss in that ear, he asked my primary care physician to order an MRI of my brain and my inner ear to rule out a tumor, nerve damage, or anything serious.
Thankfully, the results came back showing no major concerns. However, my doctor did say that she had noticed that my brain was shrinking a little. “Don’t worry, that is extremely common in people over 60,” she said. “In fact, I have never had a patient your age who didn’t show some brain shrinkage on their MRI.”
Small comfort, huh? Actually, I am totally comfortable with my mortality and so, I found the whole matter to be quite amusing. Now, whenever I forget a name or lose track of my car keys, I can simply use my shrinking brain as an excuse.
For those of you younger than me, don’t think you’re off the hook either. After Googling the subject, I discovered that the human brain starts shrinking around age 30 and, once you turn 60, it diminishes in size by about 5% per decade. Yikes!
Getting back to Spurgeon’s quote above, our thinking often determines our actions. The Apostle James drove home this truth when he wrote, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
As a good friend and former co-worker used to say, “We need to get rid of our stinking thinking.” In other words, if we start thinking properly – and especially biblically – our actions will usually follow.
“For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” Proverbs 23:7 (NASB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
