WALK IN. GET WELL.

Recently I passed a medical center with an intriguing sign:

BELLVIEW URGENT CARE.

WALK IN. GET WELL.

I guess if you can WALK IN, maybe you can actually GET WELL. Those who are truly ill probably wouldn’t be walking in to that particular facility anyway, although sometimes a minor obvious problem can lead to a greater hidden one.

And that’s the thing about a human body. There’s much that can go wrong. Any of us, if put through a full array of testing, would surely learn something was amiss, despite not feeling any symptoms. But most of us would shun that kind of scrutiny. A more common approach to medicine that works most of the time is to assume good health until a pain forces us to the doctor. As they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

So often I think of the tiny baby-body growing within Birgitta. Every day I wonder what remarkable things are taking place in that dark, hidden place.

And thanks to the internet, we can find out. During this week, her 20th, our baby’s brain is refining her 5 senses, developing the nerve cells that serve taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch. That means our mini-human is beginning to recognize Birgitta’s voice as well as other repeated sounds occurring outside the womb. She might even “jump” in response to a loud noise.

Also this week, paper-thin, miniscule fingernails and toenails are visible, and the soft body hair of a newborn has started to appear. Although Birgitta’s baby measures only 10” from tip to toe and weighs less than one pound, if she was born today, it’s very possible she would survive.

Recently Birgitta and I were studying an anatomy book, marveling at the variety and number of organs that have been squeezed into each one of our mid-sections. In the unborn, all the same systems are in place in them as in us, except they’re still in miniature. How everything can work out as well as it does, as often as it does, is a wonder. This baby is basically “done” even though Birgitta is only at the half way point in her pregnancy. Now all her tiny daughter has to do is grow.

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This reminds me of the new birth we find in salvation. As we come into God’s family by way of recognizing our need for a Savior (whose name is Jesus), all the necessary parts of our new life in Christ have been put into place. Beyond that, all we have to do is grow. It’s as much of a miracle as Birgitta’s baby is.