You Are Fearfully and Wondefully Made

There's something to be said for memorizing Bible verses. For a variety of reasons I'm feeling cranky today....that I'm totally out of it on so many levels. In the midst of these feelings, the above words from Psalm 139 popped into my head and reminded me that I'm not "out of it" in God's eyes. I do wonder sometimes about some of my fearfully and wonderfully made traits however.

Genetically I was destined to be left-handed, far-sighted, have a longer right leg, have second toes longer than the big toes, and have attached earlobes. From my birth family I received an excellent childhood, but also received some traits that make me incredibly weird in the eyes of the world. We never had a dog or cat and I don't have a clue about taking care of an animal. My parents never cared about sports and I've never watched a professional team sport on television - except when under duress at someone's home or in a restaurant. My parents cared tremendously about the English language and, as readers of this blog already know, I go ballistic when I read the preposition that someone ended a sentence WITH. My children are right-handed, near-sighted and have "normal" toes and earlobes. Unfortunately, however, they "inherited" the animal, sports, and language traits. They are working to overcome those disabilities.


So, by genetics and up-bringing, I'm already totally out of it in most conversations. I can't talk about my dog, I can't respond when someone says, "So how about those Cubs?". I can't talk about my golf game or even understand what my golfer friends are talking about. And no one cares when I rant about misspellings or incorrect word usage.


Fearfully and wonderfully made to be a sports and animal dummy who gets hysterical about improper language usage.

I play bridge occasionally with three dear teaching friends. We sometimes play all day and love both the game and our conversations. We talk about our families, the junior high, our mutual friends, books, and whatever foolishness is happening in Illinois politics. At some point during each bridge day, however, the talk turns to Vegas. All three make several trips to Las Vegas each year, all three enjoy gambling there, all three can talk for hours about the advantages of one hotel over the other, all three talk about the perks they get from hotels and casinos for being repeat customers, and all three talk about the shows they have seen. I've never been to Las Vegas. I also have absolutely no desire to go to Las Vegas. I'm not on some anti-Vegas soapbox, I'm just not interested. But, boy do I feel weird and out of it when this conversation develops.

Fearfully and wonderfully made to be totally unaware of the whole Vegas thing.

Our choir is preparing for an upcoming concert. We are learning an extremely challenging piece. It is so difficult that professional section leaders are being hired to help us. It is so difficult that 8:00 a.m. Sunday special rehearsals are being held. It is so difficult that rehearsals are a half hour longer than usual. It is so difficult that the entire rehearsal is dedicated to this piece, leaving no time for the easier songs on the program. My feelings are of total frustration because I can't stand to do something "half-assed" and know that I will never be able to master this piece. I feel insulted that we aren't good enough to sing this without professional help. And I'm dumb-founded that apparently I'm the only one who feels this way. While I'm sitting silently hating every moment spent on this piece, I hear others say, "Oh what a beautiful piece" and "How great that ____ can sing with us."

Fearfully and wonderfully made to be so annoyed and upset about things that really aren't so important.

This morning I went once again to the Zumba water aerobics class. Once again, I was unbelievably frustrated as I can't begin to follow dance moves, especially in the water. Meanwhile, other women are shimmying and shaking their shoulders and even yelling out "olés". I wanted to just hide in a corner of the pool and do my frog jumps and jumping jacks without anyone seeing me.

Fearfully and wonderfully made to not have a dancing bone in my body.

What a blessing to remember on a crabby day that I am fearfully and wonderfully made and that God loves me and all those unusual traits that are part of being fearfully and wonderfully made.