“I praise you, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made.”
-Psalm 139:14a
When I made my college choice years ago, I did so fully aware that my oldest brother Ed, would graduate from the school three months before I arrived. His positive experience at Davidson had been a factor in my decision to enroll, too, and during my first year as one who at times felt lost in a crowd, enjoyed the occasions when I would meet an upperclass student who upon hearing my last name would ask “Are you related to Ed?” I love my brother and have always been proud to be associated with him, but will also tell you that to keep having that kind of conversation into my second and third year of college grew old.
One day in the spring of my junior year, I was taking part in a gathering for prospective students. I was there to talk with a group of high school juniors about residential life as I had just been elected to a position that involved the selection and training of all hall counselors —resident advisors–for the following year. The speaker just before me on the program was a senior and he talked about intramural athletics on campus. On finishing, he then called upon me as he said, “Now, I’d like to turn the program over to Ed Willingham.” It was an innocent mistake. Still as I walked to the microphone I can remember thinking how even after two-and-a-half years on campus, I was still viewed by some only as Ed’s little brother.
Now, I got over it. I am bringing it up forty-seven years later, but truly it doesn’t bother me anymore. In fact, I ended up trusting that classmate with two of the most significant events in my life. He went on to med school and after his residency returned to his hometown, arriving the same summer Lori and I moved to that community to begin my first pastorate. He ended up delivering both of our children, so clearly I did not hold that verbal gaffe from our college days against him! Still, as a 20 year old, I was eager to be seen and known as my own person.
The Biblical verse we read moments ago affirms that reality for all of us. It comes from a Psalm where David is naming the inescapable nature of God. “O LORD, you have searched me and known me,” the shepherd king begins. He goes on to affirm how our Maker knows all that we do–when we sit and rise, when a thought passes through our mind and the words we are about to speak. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,” he exclaims “it is so high I cannot attain it.”
David continues along that line of thought before turning to speak of our unique identities. “It was you who formed my inward parts,” he declares “you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
There are many reasons to praise God–for life, loved ones, health, talents, the beauty of creation and more. The list is endless, but among the natural causes for praise is how God made each of us to be unique people. To be sure, we might look like a sibling or grandparent, our behavior may be similar to a friend or cousin, and we could have mannerisms just like those of our father or aunt, but we are unique.
For each one of us is “fearfully and wonderfully made.” How amzing is that?
Source of all life, thank you for making me and all human beings unique. Help me to act upon that fact both in claiming my identity and allowing it to shape my interactions with others. Amen.
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