Bodies - "Very Good"

Christy and I decided to check out Bodies...The Exhibition at the Cincinnati Museum Center this past weekend.

I know there is some controversy surrounding this exhibit. Many people have questions about whether or not something of this nature is appropriate based on different religious and personal beliefs.

While I think that discussion is important and interesting, I want to take this time to focus on something different - what I walked away thinking as I left the museum.

I have never been a person who is super interested in the human body. First of all, I can be a bit squeamish when it comes to blood, injuries, and exposed internal organs. I wouldn't call my feelings toward these things a phobia and I think there are a lot of people who are much more squeamish than I am around that stuff. But, being in the presence of those things definitely isn't my favorite thing.

Also, I think my lack of interest in Human Anatomy can be proven by the grade I received in the Human Anatomy class I took in High School. To this day I have no idea why I chose that science class instead of Biology 2 or Chemistry. Maybe I didn't enroll in Biology 2 because I knew I would be sick when they forced me to disect a cat. Maybe I didn't enroll in Chemistry because of my lack of interest in everything related to that study. I don't know. I am sure that I assumed Human Anatomy would be the easiest of the three choices I had. I was wrong, though. I found it impossible to memorize all the details of all the different bodily systems. Not to mention I hated the units where we had to draw the blood of our classmates and test our own urine (I'm serious, we did that).

Anyway, as I was saying, I've never been a big fan of studying the human body. But, as I've grown older I have to say that the topic has become more intriguing to me. It probably has a lot to do with my own minor health issues that I deal with from time to time. I have begun to realize that the bodies that we have need to be taken care of (as hard as that is to do). It's amazing to me that our bodies work as well as they do for as long as the do!

So, to see the inner workings of a human body in such an upclose and real way was unbelieveable. To see the nervous system and the circulatory system in all their detail - crazy! To see the smallest bones in the body (from the inner ear) - wild! To see the whole body working together to achieve life to the fullest - amazing!

I am sure I am sounding like a promotional ad for the exhibit. But really, I am not trying to talk anyone into attending. I simply wanted to point out that as a Christ follower, I sometimes forget something. While it is true that I never forget who created me, I often forget how amazing this creation is.

Psalm 139 reads:

"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
You formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvously made!
I worship in adoration - what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
You know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
How I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Christy and I read that scripture before we entered the museum. I thought about it the whole time I was observing the exhibits. I wrote it in the guest book we could sign as we left the museum. I will never skim through Psalm 139 again, only catching bits and pieces here and there. I now, in my limited human way, am able to grasp why God said, "Very good," when he created man.