I’m currently sitting in Starbucks, reflecting on a thought that struck me yesterday during my Anatomy lab. As I was sitting in lab, surrounded by twelve cadavers, I was reminded of how blessed I am with the opportunity to explore the human body in such an intricate and intimate way. Each week, I spend at least two hours, and often more, learning about and exploring one of God’s greatest creations. And what an amazing creation it is. As I’ve been learning, there is no doubt in my mind that God quite deliberately made us the way we are. The human body is organized in some amazing ways, from the way some of our most vital organs, nerves, and blood supplies are protected by bones and muscles, to the way various muscles work together to make our body move in very specific ways. Before now, I never realized just how delicate a structure the human body is, and yet it endures so much. Looking at the human body, the muscles and bones we rely on to give us structure and movement are not as big as you might imagine, and yet they are the reason we are able to get out of bed in the morning, to run and jump, to move our bodies in the intricate ways we can. And sometimes this muscles are so small I can’t understand how they can do what they do, and yet they do it. Vital organs, nerves, and blood supplies are protected by muscles and fat and the spinal cord is encased in a fortress of bone, muscles, ligaments, and fat to ensure one of our command centers is adequately protected. Structures that are more exposed or susceptible to wear and tear are often larger or stronger to protect it from damage.
There are definitely times when I think this information is more stressful than amazing, but when I stop to think about it, I can’t help but think about Psalm 139:13-14, which states:
“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.”
When I’m in that lab, seeing all of the ways God has diligently worked to create an intricate structure that allows us to function each day, and how even our inner structures can vary so much from individual to individual, there is no doubt in my mind that a creative, loving God took the time to create me to be uniquely me. And when I think about that, all of my self-doubts and self-consciousness about the way I look fly out the window, and I am able to rest in the fact that I have been fearfully and wonderfully made by a God who loves me for who I uniquely am.
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