Friday, November 20, 2009
10 Million Thanks
One of the purest holidays of the year is upon us. Thanksgiving remains unique in that it may be one of the least exploited of the major holidays Americans celebrate - don’t tell the retailers. What a blessing it is for those of us who can still corral the family and enjoy the bounty and relationships God has granted us. How refreshing it can be to sit around and talk about the things for which we are thankful.
If you’re like me, it may have been a while since you have recounted your blessings. This Thanksgiving may be an opportune time to reflect on the many gifts God has given to you. What are some of the things you are most thankful for? How many wonderful things are you taking for grant it? Allow me to highlight just one of those gifts.
I am grateful for many things, not the least of which is my ability to see. Our eyes are an incredible gift. No doubt, those who deal with the severe inconveniences of blindness or partial blindness would admonish the rest of us to savor all that our eyes can take in. Consider how vastly different the world would seem if you were blind. Better yet, imagine how drastically different the planet would be if no human being or animal could see! Without the gift of eyes, almost nothing would be the same.
Our eyes are not a mistake or a random organization of cells; they are astonishingly complex organs. “10 million photo receptor cells. That’s what the light sensitive retina of our eye contains… And what do these cells do? Capturing the light patterns formed by the lens and converting them into complex electrical signals.. which are then sent to an area of the brain, where they are transformed into the phenomenon that is vision... For the human eye to function properly, 40 fundamental components need to be simultaneously present and working properly in tandem. It is an organ with irreducible complexity.” (www.sonaandjacob.com/reason.pdf)
Our eyes are stunning gifts from our Creator. They are not organs that accidently mutated over millions of years. Even Charles Darwin admitted, “To suppose the eye… could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree!” (The Origin of Species by Natural Selection 1859, p217) The eye stands as an icon of creation and a great testament to the existence of an Intelligent Designer to whom I am eternally indebted.
Perhaps you would join me in a prayer of thanksgiving: “Ten million thanks, God, for our eyes through which we visually feast on your awesome universe. At every turn we are struck by your incredible inventiveness. There are many of us who are still thankful for all You have made. Your brilliance is on display and we are the grateful beneficiaries.”
If you’re like me, it may have been a while since you have recounted your blessings. This Thanksgiving may be an opportune time to reflect on the many gifts God has given to you. What are some of the things you are most thankful for? How many wonderful things are you taking for grant it? Allow me to highlight just one of those gifts.
I am grateful for many things, not the least of which is my ability to see. Our eyes are an incredible gift. No doubt, those who deal with the severe inconveniences of blindness or partial blindness would admonish the rest of us to savor all that our eyes can take in. Consider how vastly different the world would seem if you were blind. Better yet, imagine how drastically different the planet would be if no human being or animal could see! Without the gift of eyes, almost nothing would be the same.
Our eyes are not a mistake or a random organization of cells; they are astonishingly complex organs. “10 million photo receptor cells. That’s what the light sensitive retina of our eye contains… And what do these cells do? Capturing the light patterns formed by the lens and converting them into complex electrical signals.. which are then sent to an area of the brain, where they are transformed into the phenomenon that is vision... For the human eye to function properly, 40 fundamental components need to be simultaneously present and working properly in tandem. It is an organ with irreducible complexity.” (www.sonaandjacob.com/reason.pdf)
Our eyes are stunning gifts from our Creator. They are not organs that accidently mutated over millions of years. Even Charles Darwin admitted, “To suppose the eye… could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree!” (The Origin of Species by Natural Selection 1859, p217) The eye stands as an icon of creation and a great testament to the existence of an Intelligent Designer to whom I am eternally indebted.
Perhaps you would join me in a prayer of thanksgiving: “Ten million thanks, God, for our eyes through which we visually feast on your awesome universe. At every turn we are struck by your incredible inventiveness. There are many of us who are still thankful for all You have made. Your brilliance is on display and we are the grateful beneficiaries.”
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