Something to "Thank" About

Today, October 12, Columbus Day in the US, is Thanksgiving in my Homeland, Canada.

Though I’m living in the US I cannot help but feel a part of the festivities going on among Family and Friend across that great Land.

I woke up this morning thinking about things I have to be thankful for. The very fact that I’d slept and was refreshed caught my fancy. A bit later, as I was running through the beautiful residential streets where I live, that train of thought was triggered again. The very fact that we’re alive and well is reason enough to be thankful.

I’d never fully realized how true this is until I was introduced to a book titled “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.” The book, written by Dr. Paul Brand, a neurologist who worked extensively among lepers in India, and Phillip Yancey, an author, opened my eyes to the complexities of life in these bodies of ours and the breathtaking wonders involved in something as simple as a “look around.” The human eye, Dr. Brand points out, is composed of 107, 000,000 cells. This mass of cellular tissue is highly specialized. Some of the cells are “cones” giving us “the full band of color awareness.” Others are “rods;” backups for use in low light. Yancey and Brand wrote about “pleasure.” There aren’t cells exclusively assigned to make sure we're having fun. Actually, they observed, “pleasure” is a “by-product of cooperation by many cells.” The most astounding of their observations involves the “fertilized egg.” Quoting Lewis Thomas in “The Medusa and the Snail,” they note, “The mere existence of that cell should be one of the greatest astonishments of the earth.” Their descriptions of DNA leave no doubt about how amazing our origin and the foundational elements of our being actually are. The genetic code that determines what sort of person we are, “DNA reforms itself each time this single cell divides: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, each with identical DNA; a genetic code so complete that the entire body could be reassembled from ANY ONE of the body’s cells.” In awe I read their description of the material makeup of this magnificent element. “DNA,” they note, is “so narrow and compacted that all the genes in my entire body’s cells would fit into an ice cube; yet … unwound and joined together end to end, the strand could stretch from the earth to the sun and back more than 400 times.” Intricacy and infinity are woven into our individuality so amazingly. We are a distinctly singular unit of being. Yet our cells are as visually and functionally diverse as the animals in a zoo. Still I was running along those tree shaded streets thinking about these things while, all the time experiencing a unique pleasure that I’ve enjoyed for 37+ years. And all of this was going on in one unique yet ordinary man. I was, as one man put it, “wonderfully well and blessed.”

There was no doubt in my mind as I finished the run that I had lots of reasons to be thankful! Not only am I “wonderfully well.” I am “blessed.” I am also, as the same man insisted, “highly favored of the Lord.”

So why not celebrate “Thanksgiving” twice a year! Born and raised in one Country and living in another, I’m strategically poised to do that. And I do! Two turkey dinners? No! Joyful celebration of a gracious and generous Benefactor? Yes!
Actually, I’m learning to make that “joyful celebration” of our generously gracious Heavenly Father a part of every day I get to live in this “Fearfully, Wonderfully” created organism and the unspeakably magnificent world He’s given us as Home for now!

My Canadian Friends, and Family, may the wonders of you and the beauty surrounding you inspire true gratitude and hearts full of Thanksgiving on this great day!