Are You Special or Not?

I drank a cup of coffee too late in the evening and now here I am, thirty minutes past my usual "bedtime" and I'm deciding to blog.

The neighbor (who shares a wall with our house) has a dog who recently gave birth to eight babies. Eight. Babies. Eight baby mutts. Eight squawky baby mutts.

I don't know if it's the caffeine or the squawky baby mutts that are giving me a headache...

This morning I went to the market and bought fresh veggies. A lot of them. So I spent a lot of time in the kitchen washing and cutting veggies. I listened to NPR on my ipad while doing so. It's nice to hear something that sounds like American news...well, I mean it is American news...so that explains that.

The program was some man talking about his job exploring the universe and how he was looking for life in outer space that must surely be trying to contact us. For real, this was a serious program.

He said something that stuck with me all day. When asked if he thought there was life in outer space, he said something like this:

If earth is the only planet with life on it, then that would have to mean it was a miracle. We would have to assume that we are special. But it's easier to believe that we are not special.

Wow. Well, I agree that it would have to be a miracle. Because in fact, it IS a miracle! God creating something out of nothing is a miracle. We are a miracle! And even if that man thinks it's easier to believe he is not special, that fact remains that he IS special.

I don't know if there are life forms in outer space. Honestly, I don't care. It doesn't negate the fact that God created the world, that He breathed life into our bodies and planted souls in our being. God wants a relationship with us...so much so that He made a plan to redeem us: to buy us back when we fell away.

We are special because we are God's.

And yes, it is a miracle.