Each one of my boys loves his nose. My youngest, who is typically developing, is falling prey to the classic game of “Got Your Nose.” My older two both think it is hilarious when I “boop” them on their noses. We sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” with the classic second verse, “Eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.” I pull the classic dad move of pausing and letting them shout the last word.
“NOSE!”
When I was a child, I had a rather large nose. I have since relatively grown into it, but to this day, when I look at my nose and perhaps flare my nostrils in the mirror, I think back to the mocking I endured. I recently came across a G. K. Chesterton quote that reminded me of all this, but also of the glory and wonder of this world that we miss because of its ordinary nature.
Ordinary things are more valuable than extraordinary things; nay, they are more extraordinary. Man is something more awful than men; something more strange. The sense of the miracle of humanity itself should be always more vivid to us than any marvels of power, intellect, art, or civilization. The mere man on two legs, as such, should be felt as something more heartbreaking than any music and more startling than any caricature. Death is more tragic even than death by starvation. Having a nose is more comic even than having a Norman nose. - GK Chesterton
The beautiful thing about this world is not that funny noses exist, but that noses exist at all. These funny-looking things protrude from our faces and enable us to smell smoke, burning popcorn, a newborn baby’s head, and the dirty diapers that eventually follow. All of this is a gift. My children can rejoice and laugh at their noses, whether through the game of “Got Your Nose” or a simple “Boop, got you!” What a world of joy and beauty we get to encounter daily.
It makes me chuckle that Chesterton uses the phrase “Norman nose,” especially because my nose most likely comes from my mother’s side of the family, whose maiden name is, in fact, Norman.
Psalm 8: 3-5
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
When we think of the majesty of God, we think of the heavens above the heavens, the expanse of the universe, the stars, and the unexplored reaches of creation. We think of the depths of the sea and the heights of all that can be seen. We think of the cosmic and otherworldly realms that we cannot even approach, where angels cover their faces in your presence and display a glory and beauty that would overwhelm our mortal eyes.
Yet the microscopic details of creation also display the majesty of their Creator. From microorganisms to the largest creatures, all creation declares your praise. We who dwell in the cosmic middle ground of this earth have seen, tasted, and touched only a small fraction of your power and majesty, yet we are here to display your wonders.
We have grown dull to the beauty and majesty of this world. We pass too quickly by its grandeur, failing to stop and marvel at what God has made. Even the grandeur of a nose.
As Chesterton so wonderfully points out, is it not more of a wonder that we have these bodies at all than that some of us have funny or unique noses? Even in this fallen and failing world, where disability and sickness are realities, what a gift it is to be made in the image of God. Our bodies may be marked by weakness, suffering, and difference, but none of these diminish the dignity God has given to humanity. We must not confuse the body’s limitations with a limitation of the person’s worth. What a wonder that God has made us embodied creatures, bearing his image and given the ability to experience and enjoy his creation.
We have lost much of our appreciation for this gift in the neo-Gnostic world that devalues our bodies. We must not allow our judgments about what is ordinary, beautiful, or desirable to shape our judgments about the worth of another person. The image of God is not measured by appearance, ability, or independence. The person who communicates differently or requires assistance is no less worthy of dignity and honor.
There is glory and beauty in the wonders of this creation, from the highest heavens to the microscopic level. The expanse between these heights and depths reveals the infinite majesty of the Creator of it all. What a wonder that, in this vast creation, we have been made in the image of God and given bodies through which we experience his world.
Perhaps we need to recover the wonder of the ordinary. Perhaps we need to look again at the bodies God has given us, at the people he has placed around us, and at the world we so often take for granted. Sometimes, that wonder begins with something as ordinary as a nose.
Articles You May Like
Fatherhood in Chaos: The Biblical Character Required of a Father in a Disordered World Part 1
How Could We Be Ill-Tempered Under Such a Sky? : Recovering the Wonder of Creation from Dostoyevsky, Chesterton, and a Three-Year-Old
What I am Reading This Week:
Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen