Intertribal Life Newspaper -

To avoid my ho-hum attitude associated with taking earth and its marvels for granted, I try pretending. What if I lived in a distant galaxy and came to visit earth for the first time? What would I think of it all? I began my series on miracles with our atmosphere. I take it for granted. I breathe it in, walk around in it, view distant stars through it, and ignore the fact that without the atmosphere I would cease to exist.

Flight is another matter. I have never lost my awe over how we fill an airliner with people, luggage and fuel, lift tons into the same air I breathe, and fly hundreds of miles an hour from one place to another, even across oceans.

Even though air is thin, it is physical, so it is easier for me to see it as a miracle. Emotions, on the other hand, just seem to be something that we either enjoy or dread. I became aware of one miraculous emotion as I prayed for my brother who was going through cancer treatments. I cried to God, explaining to Him how much I loved my brother and how I did not want him jumping ahead of me in the go-to-heaven line. I am the eldest; he is ten years younger than I am so I should have some say in the matter. As I prayed, I became aware of a love so strong that my heart ached. It became like a physical thing that I could touch, and I wondered how it got on the planet with me.

At the same time I remembered (another miracle) Louis Giglio talking about laminin in his DVD, How Great is Our God. Laminin is a cellular adhesion protein. It is a tiny molecule with three woven strands forming a cell that resembles a cross. Laminin holds our bodies' cells together. I thought it was odd to be thinking of laminin at such a time, but God uses physical things to show us spiritual truths. For example, God's photosynthesis of light causes plants to grow. Plants provide food, clothing, housing, and oxygen. We cannot live without light. Jesus is the light of the world. We cannot live spiritually without Christ.

Then I had another aha moment. Love is spiritual laminin. Love holds the body of Christ together. Therefore, I asked myself what spiritual laminin looked like. I thought of 1 Corinthians 13:4-6: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

I love my brother. I feel that warm feeling whenever I think of him. I wish I could love everyone like that-those who irritate me and disappoint me and fail me. Wow, there is a lot of "me" in there. I know that I cannot produce this miracle on my own. I have to stay connected to the Creator of laminin for that.

Gad Armony, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

I can hardly believe it is time for Christmas again. The floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes and even a derecho through Iowa have compounded the agony of so many hurting and dying from COVID19. We desperately need some spiritual laminin. I hope this Christmas will remind us of the One who came to bring us that love. I hope we will return His love and love others as He loved us.

Sue Carlisle grew up on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. An enrolled member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, her passion is to encourage people to look at creation and see our awesome Creator. Sue

is author of Walking with the Creator Along the Narrow Road (2013 Indian Life Books). She and her husband, Wes, now live in Thunder Bay, Ontario.