Wonder and Awe

Amy Oden

for Church of the Resurrection Insights Blog

1 Thessalonians 5:15-17

Have you ever thought about the statistical likelihood of your, particular existence? The 23 sets of chromosomes that become the particular human being that you are, are a unique set of material in the entire cosmos. This combination of chromosomes only exists in you.

And this unique set of material is, statistically, astronomically improbable. Out of all the 1-2 million eggs your mother carried in her ovaries, your particular, unique egg was fertilized. Your egg was literally one in a million or more! Add to that, the astonishing selection of 1 sperm from the 1-2 million sperm your father contributed. There were literally millions of other eggs and millions of other sperms and millions of other combinations of eggs and sperms as likely as your particular combination, millions of other possible people from other possible combinations of chromosomes that never came into existence because your egg and sperm did.

Now, multiply this improbability by the hundreds of generations before you -- each generation producing particular human beings from one egg and one sperm out of millions. If there had been, in any generation, a different egg or sperm, you would not exist. A different person would.

Consider the exponential unlikelihood of producing your unique genetic material! Taken statistically, scientists calculate that the chance of one egg and one sperm combining to make you is about 1 in 400,000,000,000. That’s 400 trillion to 1 odds of you not happening.  

So just the fact of you, your particular DNA, is shockingly unlikely. The universe did not require your specific existence. Yet here you are, a living, breathing, unlikely phenomenon.

When you consider this – that your life is sheer gift that never needed to happen but did -- how do you feel? Are you in awe? Or maybe you wonder if it’s unfair that you get to exist when millions of other combinations of eggs and sperms don’t? Does the next breath take on new meaning?

This sort of wonder and awe is at the heart of worship. Awe and wonder are implanted in all of us. We have the capacity to tap into them any time. Here, worship pours forth naturally and genuinely. When we stand in awe and wonder we are able to “always pursue the good for each other and everyone else. Rejoice always. Pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:15-17).

Today, be astonished that you exist. See what happens.