What We Leave Behind Us When We Go…
In the next few months, our family is facing the possibility of having to leave where we live and move to a different area of the country.
We’ve been here for ten years, two of our children are going to settle here at least for the foreseeable future, we’ve become enmeshed with our church family here and our hearts are tied to family and friends in this area. Disengaging from that is difficult and frankly won’t be easy if it turns out to be necessary.
I’ll always feel as if part of me is here as if I’ve left little pieces of myself behind. So I was thinking about that, what it will be like, and turns out that “leaving pieces of ourselves behind wherever we go” is both literally and figuratively true.
What We Leave Behind Physically
Did you know that humans shed skin cells at a rate of 500 million cells every day? If you could see us on a cellular level, I imagine we’d look a little like we walk around all day with a cloud of skin cell dust flying around us. We leave pieces of ourselves all over.
You’d think that would be sort of gross, wouldn’t you? But interestingly enough, scientists have concluded that human shed cells actually contribute to decreasing indoor pollution. Did you know you’re helping your environment just by existing in it? Wow.
The scientists cited in the article I read said that the oil in our skin cells contains cholesterol and something called “squalene,” and that squalene contributes to the reduction of ozone in the atmosphere. Ozone is a pollutant that irritates your eyes, nose, and throat, and can cause problems in those with asthma.
Your skin cells help other people around you feel better – they literally help other people not feel so irritated by the atmosphere. Just from you being in the room.
Isn’t that amazing?
What We Leave Behind Spiritually
Isn’t that the way God created us to be spiritually too?
We leave little bits of ourselves behind wherever we go. The words we say, the way we made someone feel, the thoughts and inspiration we shared. We leave behind spiritual skin cells, and those are supposed to carry a spiritual “oil” that reduces the pollution of this world and leaves everyone better off.
Isn’t it interesting that the Bible likens the Holy Spirit to “oil” as well? Isn’t He the oil that our spiritual cells should be so saturated with that they act as a spiritual benefit to everyone we come in contact with?
Isn’t that all just so amazing to think about, that God gives us these little object lessons even in our own DNA and through something as mundane as shedding our skin? Something we can’t even see, and actually are probably pretty happy that we can’t see it happening. Something like this just emphasizes to me how God created us so perfectly to blend together with body physical and spiritual in connection with each other, helping each other, growing each other, being someone who leaves people less polluted than they were before we got there.
Isn’t that all amazing to think about?
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P.S. Don’t forget that Christmas is coming. Prepare your heart for the holidays with the Christ-centered devotions in Christmas is Coming, a devotional for the holiday season written by our founder, Heather Hart.
Oh my. This is fascinating. Our skin cells helping the ozone. And yes, we leave an imprint or part of us with those we come in contact with. We can help others in no many ways, even long after we have left. Another cool thought.