Your Body: Fantabulous “….awesomely and wonderfully made….”
A moody teenage boy wrestling with skin concerns said, “I hate my skin!” Father, “Then take it off.” Son, “That’s stupid, everything would fall out!” Father, “So live with it.” So we do, from our silky soft first day to our wrinkled, rumpled last.
Skin, our biggest organ, performs incredible functions. Scientists: “Skin is highly intelligent.” Stretched out the average human skin would cover about 25 square feet. (Don’t be too visual!) If it stood by itself it would weigh 9 lbs.
Skin: It’s tough! elastic! waterproof! It’s active: “good” bacteria colonies lie on its surface as part of our immune system. It prevents our water-saturated bodies from drying up.
More: It sweats out toxins and waste. A pair of feet have 260,000 sweat glands (it pores out!), 8 oz.per day. (Yeah, those gym socks!)
Skin is ever new. 600,000 particles die and drop away every hour (ever hear them hit the floor?). Cells are replaced hourly, being pushed up constantly from beneath to surface firmness, a 40 days comeuppance.
Skin is the thinnest in the eyelids- and oh so gentle. It’s the thickest on the soles of the feet- for walking barefoot of course.
Skin has 3 layers. The outer layer is a protective barrier providing skin tone and color. The inner layer is tough connective tissue. The center layer is substantial “spoil” out of which….
Oops! The center layer (dermis) has four layers itself out of which sprouts hair follicles, operates sweat glands, flows a rich network of nourishing blood vessels, and is serviced by 45 miles of nerves!
More: Those miles of nerves call out, “Send warm blood!” when cold prevails, or “Start sweating!” when too warm, via commands to contract, speed up, and let loose. 98.6 prevails!
Much more: They deliver the marvelous sense of “touch!” Which allows us to know, operate, calculate, change, evaluate and enjoy everything our fingers reach for or that contacts our skin.
Even more! “Touch” enables the feelings so precious to our friendships, belonging, warmth of being, loving and intimacy.
Our skin is much more than what we squint at in the mirror, see beyond our sleeves, or must note when we undress for sleep.
The Creator God has wrapped us in Wonder!
How can we protect what is protecting us? Cooperate with the healthfulness it is designed to provide?
A young Korean friend wrestling with English word order, when being chided about “girls”, retorted, “Ah, but beauty is only deep skin.” He was right!
~Earl Laman, Health Ministry member