For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:13-14a)

              Recently, NASA launched the Artemis II mission to travel around the moon and back to earth. After the experience, as with most astronauts, the crew of Artemis shared how the experience changed them. Many astronauts will talk about how seeing the earth hanging in the dark, vastness of space made them realize how small we humans really are. We are just tiny specks upon a tiny dot in the midst of a grand universe.

              That is true. Each of us is but one of 8.3 billion people on earth. We make our personal journey through time and space for the most part anonymously when considering the long arc of time. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

              However, Psalm 139 reminds us that we are also more than that. Psalm 139 declares that we are each formed by God, we are known by God, and we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

              Fearfully and wonderfully made. We are not just tiny specks upon a tiny dot in the universe. We have been made by God to think, and act, and love. We are fearfully and wonderfully made to live in relationship with one another and serve one another for the good of God’s beloved community. We matter enough to God that God is willing to know us, and care for us, and fill us with the light of God’s love.

              Sure, those pictures of earth from space remind us that we ought not think too much of ourselves. At the same time our relationship with God reminds us we ought not think too little. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.