Saturday, January 17, 2009

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

The brain is such an amazing organ. All those cells firing at once and dealing with every function needed to keep us living. Don't you feel sorry for those pre-historic ape men who are supposed to have developed their brains into human intelligence and individuality over time? I can just picture one of them looking over at their buddy that just dropped dead, "Oops, I guess a synapse must have misfired."  

My older brother and I went running this morning in the frigid winter countryside. Just thinking about the mitochondria in my cells with their incessant task of taking in oxygen and providing energy was enough to take my breath away if my breath had not already been taken away :)  

Did you know that you get a whole new body every 10 years from age 20 on? The problem is, each new body is like a picture that is copied: each time the image is less perfect than the one before. The fine hairs in the cochlea that sense sound can be damaged permanently, and like the cells of parts of your eye, are never replaced in your lifetime.  

Treasure the sound of music, the smell of firs, the sight of a red clover field at its peak bloom, the taste of the year's first apples, and the feel of January's icy breeze.

1 comment:

Karen said...

Wow, thanks for that post, Emily! Theresa is taking an anatomy class right now in school and is learning all sorts of AMAZING things about the human body, like how your cells reconstruct themselves in the winter to keep you warmer! It's so amazing! God is a genius!