Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Today is my birthday. In case you’re wondering, I’m 57 years young. Even though I’m definitely getting older and feeling the effects of it, I still enjoy birthdays. Birthdays give me a chance to reflect on my life and how richly blessed I have been. On this day I give thanks for the wonderful parents and family God gave me. I give thanks for the teachers who helped educate me and for the churches that have played such an important role in my life. I also offer thanks for my wife and for the many wonderful friends I have been blessed with. Needless to say, I likewise give thanks for all the wonders of God’s Creation I have been blessed to witness, visit and photograph.
On this particular day I also give thanks for my body. Considering the shape I’m in perhaps I should rephrase that and say I am thankful for the human body. In Psalm 139 David says to God “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (vs. 13-14) In this blog I write often about the wonders of God’s Creation and focus primarily on what we normally refer to as “nature.” It would serve us well to remember from time to time that we, too, are part of that Creation and that our bodies–just like the rest of nature–is a marvelous gift of God and speaks volumes about who God is.
Several years ago Philip Yancey and Dr. Paul Brand wrote a book called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. In this book they talk about the marvels of the human body–cells, bones, skin, motion–and also draw spiritual lessons from the makeup of our bodies. I recommend this book, along with its companion volume, In His Image, to you. Although we may not think about it in such terms very often, the human body is part of God’s “Other Book.” We would all benefit from paying more attention to it. I suspect that doing so would lead us, like the Psalmist, to offer God praise.
–Chuck
(The three pictures shown here were taken yesterday. That’s me on the right at top with my dear friend, Bill Fortney. The middle image was taken in the Daniel Boone National Forest of Kentucky and the bottom image at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Tennessee.)