I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. -Psalm 139:14-16

One lazy summer day a couple of years ago, I was playing with my nephews, Cameron and Dillon. They were taking turns doing tricks on Cameron’s new scooter. It looked easy to ride (famous last words), so I said, “Let me give it a try.” It took about twenty seconds for me to flip over the thing, careening into the mud. Afterward, I noticed that I had a fairly large cut on my leg from my wipeout. I cleaned it up and forgot about it.

A few days later, I spent five days alone in the hill country of Texas so that I could write without distraction. During those reflective days, I was unusually observant of the healing process of that cut. I watched in awe as the cut grew uglier and more “colorful,” then gradually more natural- looking and harmless. One day I noticed perfectly smooth and unblemished pink skin all around it. It stirred me to consider the ease with which my body could recover from injury and “create” entirely new and perfect parts of itself. Now, weeks later, there is only the tiniest of scars left. A part of me wonders if my body could have gotten rid of even the scar but chose to keep it around in order to remind me that I’m a little too old now for scooters!

I have always been fascinated by the phenomenon of homeostasis, the body’s ability to maintain balance and equilibrium in all of its systems. Many bodily functions that we consider problems are actually solutions from the perspective of the body. It is the body, not the disease, that causes fever. It does so because many bacteria cannot survive at higher temperatures. The body causes vomiting when it detects poison in the system and wants to flush itself clean. Sometimes headaches occur because the body, sensing that oxygen levels in the brain are a little low, rushes more of it upward. Homeostasis also refers to the unbelievable ability to keep my body temperature almost precisely the same whether I go for a run in the eleven-degree cold of Cambridge, Massachusetts, or in the ninety-one- degree heat of Houston, Texas. Now, how can that be? How can I be created so marvelously? It takes my breath away just to think about what an amazing wonder is this clumsy, beat-up, slightly overweight body of mine. When I praise the Lord, I do so for the gifts of family, vocation, friends, granted favors and undeserved graces. But how often do I sit in awe of the giftedness of my thumb, of the industry of my digestive system, of the particularity of my pinky-toe?

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE PASSAGES

GENESIS 1:1-2:4: God looked at what he made and saw that it was good

PSALM 139:1-18: I praise you, for I am wonderfully made

ECCLESIASTES 1:1-2:26: Vanity of vanities; all is vanity

WISDOM 11:24-25: You love all you made

HOSEA 11:1-4: When Israel was a child, I loved him

MATTHEW 6:25-34: Consider the lilies

LUKE 12:22-32: Do not worry about what you are to wear

1 LUKE 17:11-19: The grateful leper

CORINTHIANS 6:15-20: The body is a temple

1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-58: Our resurrected bodies

PRAYER POINTERS

I find a sitting position that is comfortable, but not so much so that I will fall asleep easily. A cushioned chair that forces me to sit up straight usually does the trick. In the long run, breathing is easier and more relaxed when I’m sitting up. I sit quietly a few moments, allowing my breathing to slow down and my body to relax.

Without moving and in that same quiet state, I focus all of my attention on the big toe of my right foot. I “sense” the presence of that toe as I never have before. I feel its contentment with simply “being” there at the end of my foot. In my heart I say to God repeatedly, “Thank you, Lord.” After a while, I move on to my entire right foot. I note its peacefulness and tranquility-its lack of anxiety or fear. I say again, “Thank you, Lord.” I now allow its partner, the left foot, into the reflection, noting its quietness and thanking God for creating it. I slowly move up past my feet and focus on the solitude of the shin. I continue moving slowly up my body, noting at each stage how peaceful and content each body part is and thanking God for it. I do this exercise very slowly, spending a while at each spot without becoming stuck on any one.

When I have reached the top of my head, I pull away slowly and try to get a sense of my entire body as a “unified whole” at rest and at peace. I go back “into my body” very slowly, traveling through my various body parts, again observing the stillness that pervades everywhere. I now pull away again and revisit the quietness of my entire body. I spend a few minutes soaking in that quiet state.

Awe, Hate, Jealous, Lonely, Sad, Sexually Aroused

WORDS TO TAKE WITH YOU

Blessed are You, Adonai, Ruler of the universe, who has formed human beings in wisdom, and created in us a system of ducts and tubes. It is well known before Your glorious throne that if but one of these be opened, or if one of those be closed, it would be impossible to exist in Your presence.

Blessed are You, Adonai, who heals all creatures and does wonders.

-Asher Yotzar, an old Jewish prayer said after leaving the bathroom