I have been a Christian all my life. But I’m not a robot. The pendulum of life swings with a wide path and, like even the most rock solid of the Faith, there are times when I have my doubts.
Often in these times the world seems like a dark, scary place. If He was really there, would such injustice, inequity, and lack of regard for human life be allowed to continue? So much hate, so much anger, resentment, jealousy, ignorance. Sometimes it rattles the bolts that lock my soul around my Savior.
But now come grandchildren. And through their tiny fingers I re-establish my grip on the Truth. That only the Almighty could wrought something like a fresh, new human life, so helpless yet so full of unlimited potential. Yes, He’s still there alright. Who else could send you on this wondrous new journey?
It began by mentally revisiting the birth of my own kids….trying to wrap my mind around the concept that I could actually help create another human life…..and do so without any special education or skills. Scientists spend a lifetime studying the genome, but I could sire a human without even knowing the difference between a kidney and a bladder. This new life would be born with intellect and emotion……..and a social conscience, none of which I could have programmed. Yet there had to be a programmer.
Even more incredible is that this individual I helped to create was, in turn, capable of helping to create another life….my grandchild……a little person that would resemble me in ways obvious and subtle. It had been almost 30 years since I held and observed a newborn life. Long enough to forget that we come into this world with absolute helplessness. Often born to caregivers who know little or nothing about meeting our needs. Who make mistake after mistake. Yet we survive and even thrive…..dare I say it…..by the grace of God.
I was intrigued at how my infant grandchildren had to learn how to be human. Guess I expected more things to be instinctive. For example, simply grasping an object. I would place a tiny toy on his little hand. At first, he would just kind of pin it between two fingers to pick it up. He literally had to learn how his hand works. In time he figured out how to bend his fingers at the joints and grasp something. Seems we take about the first six months or so just to figure out how our bodies function.
But brother, once we do figure it out, it’s on! The rate of learning shifts into warp drive. We are programmed to quickly absorb language, personality, strength, agility, not to mention emotional manipulation, something at which a baby/toddler excels! I am in amazement at how the programming follows the same, exact sequence for virtually all healthy babies. Turning over, then bracing up into the “starting block” position, crawling, pulling up, and, consummately, walking. Photo albums contain pages of fill-in-the-blank spaces for these momentous events in precisely that sequence. Because its part of the plan. His plan.
By 21 months my precious granddaughter can repeat virtually anything I say (uh-oh), re-enact every physical thing I do, figure out how to do things I don’t want her to do, and destroy my disciplinary will with a quick hug and kiss. Such wisdom and cunning at such a tender age. As I rock my grandson I watch his eyes gently lose control and slowly close…..beautiful eyes capable of performing over ten thousand different movements and functions. Petite ears that not only hear a wide spectrum of sound, but somehow arrange perspectives of that sound so that he can tell which noises are close and which distant. A tiny red tongue that, in time, will learn to contort into hundreds of positions to enunciate the different sounds of the language.
All of these spectacularly complex functions can only happen because we are born with the capability to perform them, without any pre-design whatsoever from a human hand. The programmer has taken care of it all. It’s impossible….no, make that ridiculous….. for me to believe, having observed my subjects at close range, that this could be the result of some random evolutionary events. It is, purely and simply, an act of God. It is the human miracle.
So let the terrorists threaten, the racists hate, the overzealous liberals and conservatives bicker. My God is still in control. I know this because my grandson just spit up all over my shirt, and then flashed me a big smile that said “Relax Grampa. Everything’s gonna be ok.”
