Awe

The other day I was reaching into a drawer for a cooking utensil. I wasn’t watching what I was doing, thinking I knew right where my desired tool was. I ended up cutting my finger on an apple slicer that was left sharp side up. The next day I was looking in awe at the cut and the miracle that was occurring not only in my finger, but throughout my entire body as well, in that moment.

As for my finger, the cut was still relatively fresh, having happened the night before. There was separation of the skin with a chasm in between. This chasm was lined with a smooth, light pink tissue that had a dark brown spot. There was a small, almost unnoticeable flap of skin remaining covering the dark brown spot.

As I sat and looked, I couldn’t help but think of all the processes that occurred in the past 12 or so hours to get the cut to that point. Try to imagine how many immune cells are congregating to the site to clean it out and keep it clean. Picture the increase of blood flow to the area to transport the healing cells into my finger tip. It’s like taking a traffic jam on a New York City highway and all of a sudden it starts moving at 70 miles per hour free and clear.

At this point it is warm and stings when I touch it. As I did, the only thought I had was “Leave it alone.” I could hear my father’s words being repeated from my childhood…age old wisdom for a modern time.

I can see all of the collagen fibers and connective tissues re-growing to bridge the gap. These fibers connect the two separate areas to make them one again. And amazingly, in a couple of days there will be hardened reddish-brown tissue called a scab covering the area, protecting it like a roof over my house. Finally I can imagine that scab falling off and revealing the final stages of healing where my skin regenerates completely, leaving the exact same ridges and bumps that make up my fingerprint just as before the cut occurred.

The whole process is like erecting a large scale building. We see the framework and shell go up with all of the cranes, scaffolds and people milling about. But we don’t see all of the cement mixing, soldering, or riveting. Once the structure is up, we don’t see all of the electrical wires and plumbing being drawn through or the fixtures being mounted. Thankfully there is intelligence in the form of foremen and women who coordinate the effort. What we do see is the “Grand Opening” sign and business being conducted. And we say, “Wow, that was fast.”

Over one million cells are replaced each and every day of our life. That IS healing. Every second of our lives there are six septillion (1 with 13 zeros after it) processes occurring in our bodies. It is the intelligence of the body which coordinates all of these 60,000,000,000,000 (six septillion) processes.

Scientists agree that they have studied only 1% of what the human body is capable of. Will we choose to be in awe of the other 99% so the 1% we do know about function better? Or will we choose to focus on the 1/10 of 1% that is malfunctioning in a given moment? That is not to discredit or demean those who are in pain or are sick, but to remind us all of the splendor and potential of LIFE.

Give thanks for the miracle that we are. Remember all of the workers responsible for erecting and completing your “building” and the intelligence required to coordinate it all.