Wonder and Awe

One of my colleagues at the Community College once remarked to me that he thought the reason we worked was to meet the people with whom we would spend eternity.   What an absolutely lovely thought that was! 

This morning, as I sat looking out the window and drinking my tea, I ran my tongue over my teeth, thinking with wonder and awe about how perfectly they were all constructed and lined up:  The front teeth have smooth, even edges; the eye teeth have jagged edges and deep grooves for grabbing and tearing, while the back teeth lie rather flat with edges designed for grinding.  I was reminded of a verse from the Living Bible (a paraphrased version) which says, "My body, too, knows full well that You are my God!"  I often think of that verse when something goes physically amiss, and I need healing.

The experience of the moment reminded me of a brief presentation one of my colleagues gave in a mentoring session.  As a Ph.D. biologist, Barbara was absolutely one of the best teachers at the college.  I had often sat in on her class, just to observe mastery teaching and to learn from her.  On this particular day, she gave a 10-minute lesson from biology; the rest of us were observing her teaching techniques. This was one way we could all receive feedback on our teaching and also learn from one another. 

As Barbara began her lesson, she asked us to notice our fingernails.  Then she told us to feel a strand of hair, and finally, she directed us to run our tongues over the inside of our cheek, feeling the smooth texture of the surface.  Once we had done this, she amazed us with the lesson.  She told us that all three very different surfaces  contained exactly the same constructive material, which she represented as ABC. The differences were obtained by different arrangements of the same material, as for example, BCA, or  CBA.  By the time she reached the end of her presentation, all of us were overcome by wonder and awe at the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of the human body.

There are so many times that what I learned from Barbara comes back to me with the same wonder and awe, as I contemplate the construction of not only my own body, but the physical universe.  Later, Barbara joined with me and another colleague in a different (national) presentation on the simplicity and complexity of a college "universe," with the interactions of faculty, students, and administration, and the direct symbiotic influences of all three on one another.  The purpose of the presentation was a plea for 'faculty evaluation' to be a humane and supportive process rather than a judgmental and critical one. 

As I look back today over the experiences of my life and the people with whom I worked, I see even more clearly how beautifully we were all "put together;" how wonderfully our "ABC's" were differently constructed so that the body of our corporate life would function, each one dependent upon the others.  I am grateful not only for the perfect alignment of different teeth in my mouth, but for the even greater "perfect alignment" of different people in my life -- all of whom contributed knowledge, wonder, and awe to the task we faced together.

On one level, I see how each tooth is constructed in such a way so as to benefit the body as a whole.  On the greater, universal, level, I see how each person at the college contributed to the health of the body as a whole.  What a privilege it was to be part of that endeavor and to get to know intimately the gifts and talents each one brought to the task! 

Unfortunately, not every corporate endeavor works like the human body.  Even at the college, there were a few whose thought was not for the good of the whole, but only for themselves.  They were, in a sense, "tearing and grinding" at the body instead of "for the good of the whole."  These are the ones, I suppose, that Jesus told us to 'shake the dust off our feet' as we left them, having nothing more to do with them.

I remember today those who worked together, who in different ways contributed to the health of the whole body -- to one another, to the students, to the smooth operation of the whole college-- with wonder and awe, with immense gratitude, with praise and thanksgiving that I came to know such as these.  For they are the ones with whom I will spend eternity -- and then we will all see together the results of our labor!