Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Creation and Engineering

It’s work-at-home Wednesday, and I was up early. I opened my eyes to see what time it was in anticipation of turning off the alarm (set – too optimistically I was beginning to think – for 6:00 am.) Yet the acts of thinking that one through and opening my eyes to verify the time (plus the discovery that it was already 5:10) were enough to move me across the threshold from sleep to wakefulness.

The sun had not risen. Yet when I opened the blinds of my bedroom window I could see the nearest street light. It was on. This light sits in exactly the place where the light of the sun is first visible for much of the year.

Funny how many centuries it takes and how much labor and cost goes into imitating the creation, though perhaps it is the sincerest form of flattery.

Once I watched a seagull trying to open mussels for his breakfast. He flapped his wings and rose straight up in the air, dropping them on the dock to crack them open. I wondered how much we spend to build aircraft that can go straight up in the air like that seagull.

On one hand I’m impressed by how much we, human beings, can do: that we recognize good stuff all around us, imagine what is possible, and can build such amazing things. Engineering can accomplish fabulous works.

On the other hand, I notice how much easier the Creator seems to make it look in pulling off the same things and better ones.

Well, an expert does tend to reach the point where he or she can make things look easy, right?

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