God's Pretty Smart

God's pretty smart," observed a perspicacious fourth-grader. "Long before eyeglasses were invented, he put our nose and ears in the right places."

Job, too, saw something of God's loving providence in the shaping of the human body. "Your hands shaped me and made me," he mused. "Did you not...clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness and in your providence watched over my spirit." (Jb 10:8-12).

Unless we pause, like these two did, to think about such marvels, we tend to take for granted God's providence in our lives--even in our very bodies and their awesome functions. A man healed of blindness is grateful beyond compare for the gift of his restored eyesight, while the sighted person seldom, if ever, exults in God's gift of eyesight.

Pause now, and think of the providential design of your heart that beats without your conscious effort, your skin with its build-in thermostat, your hearing that transforms air vibrations into meaningful sound in communication and music appreciation, your digestion that extracts and distributes nourishment from food. Then, let your heart exult, "How great thou art, O Lord!"

This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net