Thanksgiving Challenge, Days 25 & 26

Day #25: I'm thankful God keeps the stars in place.

"'To whom will you compare me?

    Or who is my equal?' says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
    Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
    not one of them is missing" (Isaiah 40:25-26).

I'm always losing things. In our home, it's my husband who can usually find something when I think I've looked everywhere! Whenever I read the above passage, I'm always glad I don't have the job of keeping track of all the stars! God knows each star's name, and he placed each one in space. And for thousands of years, he's kept them in place. He hasn't misplaced one yet!


Day #26: I'm thankful God created man in his image.


One of the biggest things to happen in Greenville, South Carolina, recently was the birth of a baby giraffe at our small zoo. Hundreds of thousands of people watched live on the internet as Kiko came into the world. (And if you want to peek in on him, the webcam is still live. Access it here.) I alas, was asleep when she went into labor, so I missed the whole thing! But one thing that was interesting to me was that how, just hours after birth, this tiny creature was up and walking on its own four legs. My son is ten months old and is just starting to take tentative steps, but it will still be several months (probably) before he walks as well as that giraffe did just after birth.

My point is that humans are different from animals. God made animals to operate on instinct. They do what they are programmed to do to survive. But God made us different. Genesis 1:27 says "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." By making us in his image, God created us with some of the attributes he has. Theologians call these his communicable attributes. Like God, we can create, love, have knowledge, be holy. Of course, in no way can we display these attributes to perfection like God does. For instance, we can create, but not out of nothing! But our ability to do these things points to our Maker who created us in his own image. He set us apart from the animals by making us like himself. And because we are made in his image, we are able to have a deep and abiding relationship with him! He created us with the capacity to know and love him!