Measuring Up

With the exception of the Bible, I don't believe everything I read.

This week, I read something I'd never heard before. Supposedly, your thumb is supposed to be the same length as your nose.

Okay. Admit it. You just paused and checked, didn't you?

I did. Wow. Yep. Mine was.
Was yours?

In a way, it makes perfect sense. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Remembering I just got a swimsuit, the emphasis for me is definitely fearfully, not wonderfully.)

Michaelangelo drew the Vitruvian Man, illustrating the amazing way our bodies are proportioned. Arm span from fingertip to fingertip is equal to a person's height. So why shouldn't the nose/thumb ratio work?

But hang on a second. I remember how cartiledge continues to grow--as we age, our nose and ears actually increase in size. Our vertebrae compress, so height diminishes. Does our arm span change, or will I be dragging my knuckles on the ground by the time I'm eighty? Hmmm. I've lost two inches in height. I can't check the arm span measurement because I can't fully extend my left arm. Checking the nose/thumb thing was a whole lot easier.

(Side note: Contrary to Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting, Adam didn't have a belly button.)

God's plan is perfection. Adam and Eve were gorgeous. God created man and said they were good. Then they messed up. And covered up. Pain, disease, aging, and death entered the picture. God, Himself, stitched them clothing from furs. Even now, He still knits each of us in our mothers' wombs and imbues each of us with a soul. Knowing full well we cannot measure up, He sent Jesus. Christ lifted his arms to His Father in praise. He stretched His arms wide on the cross. He embodied the full measure of perfection.

It doesn't matter if your thumb's the same length as your nose, if it's gnarled with arthritis, has warts, your nails are chipped, or you're sporting a BandAid. If your hands are outstretched in praise or opening a Bible in reverence, God sees them as beautiful.
Love,

Cathy