The Miracle of YOU

Friends know I always enjoy hearing stories about children. To me, their creative acts and cute sayings are part of life’s blessings. I received a couple of those this week in a thrift store journal.

Inside the cover was a picture of mother and son. Then came the title: My Quotable Kid. I know she was a loving, but busy, mom because the journal was empty after the first three pages.

Two entries caught my eye, and I quote:

     1.       (On his third birthday) After opening all his birthday gifts on the living room rug, Max looked                 around and said, “Where’d my birthday go?”

2.       Tired of being reminded to use his manners (i.e., please and thank you) Max declared “I want milk and cereal with no manners.”

I have a photo gallery on the wall of my guest bedroom. It includes photos of children I’ve had the privilege of knowing in their younger years. We were blessed to have friends who included us as an honorary aunt and uncle.

Now that they’re grown, our friendship is naturally on a different level. They have no idea the fun memories I have of them as children, but then I’m reminded some people would say that of me as a child, too.

It’s interesting how life flows from generation to generation. I was visiting with a friend this week who came from a family of ten. I find that amazing since I came from a family of three. But she caught my attention when she said, “We were all born healthy, though one only weighed six pounds.” I said, “I only weighed four pounds ten ounces.”

It’s easy for me to get on a soap box about the miracle of life. How is it that one tiny sperm and one tiny egg can get together to create a human being that weighs only a few pounds at birth . . . who then grows up to be six foot four and weigh 200 pounds, like my brother?”

Even the ancients were awed by the miracle inside the womb: Psalm 139:13-16 says, “You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something” (The Message).

Have you ever stopped to thank God for the intricacies of your body? For example: 1) I think about my eyes when I’m checked for new glasses, 2) I’m amazed my body survived breast cancer treatments of chemo, surgery, and radiation, and 3) my echocardiogram allowed me to hear the swoosh-swoosh of blood pumping through my heart, though it does that day after day without me hearing a thing.

Because we are so intricate, there are many medical specialties. Psalm 100:3-4 remind us that it is God who has made us and not we ourselves. We are advised to enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.

If you can’t think of anything else, just thank Him for the miracle of YOU!