Fearfully And Wonderfully Made

When I was 12 I went on holiday with my friend Tim and his family. I remember boat rides, ice creams, games of Monopoly, hearing Gerry and the Pacemakers, watching Cliff Richard in ‘Summer Holiday’ at the cinema…

One evening we went to the local village hall for an old-style sing-a-long. We sung many old songs… ‘Pack up your Troubles’, White Cliffs of Dover’… and ‘After the Ball’:

After the ball was over, Mary took out her glass eye,
Put her false teeth in water, washed off the paint and dye
Put her wooden leg in the corner, hung her wig up on the wall
And all that was left went to bye-byes after the ball.

I thought it was funny…

I’m at that stage of life now where Mary’s ‘After the Ball’ situation is true for many friends, with conversations about knee replacements, cataract operations and dental surgery… ‘I can’t read that without my glasses’… ‘Speak up – I’ve left my hearing aids at home’…

Terry described going to have his pacemaker replaced. The skill of the surgeons/technicians – making a life-sustaining procedure seem so simple… Gilly talked with amazement about his endoscopy – seeing images from the camera passing through the oesophagus, into his stomach…

At church Danny reminded us of Psalm 139. In beautiful, poetic language David talks about being ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’… the ‘wow-factor’ of the human body.

Many friends are conscious that their ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ bodies are wearing out… I remember witnessing the birth of each of our three children… the intricate detail of this little person entering the world… At the time Rachel was in a state of ‘Ow’ rather than ‘Wow’…

It’s Holy Week. I remember Jesus – the man – with a ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ body… that walked, talked, touched… that sometimes was tired, hungry, dirty. I remember the man that rode on a donkey, turned over money tables, embraced his friends… was tortured, beaten and nailed to a cross…

And I muse…