A Touching Truth

Ecclesiastes 3:5
“A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;”

Which of your five senses is most important? Which sense could be lost with the least threat to your life?

Most people consider their sense of sight the most important. While the loss of sight is a terrible tragedy, life can go on. Lose your sense of smell, and food will be flavorless, but you can get by. Loss of hearing, too, is a great loss, but the loss can be adjusted to. And few people’s lives are threatened by the loss of the sense of taste. However, if you lose your sense of touch, you lose your sense of pain and, therefore, any warning that you might be injuring yourself. Unfortunately, there are people who have no sense of touch. Sometimes they receive life-threatening injuries because they cannot feel pain.

Science has shown that touching is necessary for life. Newborn animals that are licked by their mothers have a higher resistance to disease. They are also more likely to live to adulthood than newborns that are untouched by their mothers. Chihuahua pups have a notoriously high rate of death because their mothers are often unwilling to lick them. Lambs will die after birth if their mothers do not lick and nuzzle them. Even human infants who are not lovingly touched enough will suffer from depression, poor sleep, weight loss, poor immunity and, in extreme cases, even death.

Our wise Creator has built into us the need for touch. Though we take it for granted, without touch, life would be impossible. Can you name some other gifts He has given you that you have been taking for granted? Thank Him today!

Prayer:
Father, You are so generous and have given me so much that I could never thank You for each gift by name. Nevertheless, I thank You for all of them and especially for the forgiveness of my sins in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Notes:
McCutcheon, M. 1989. The Compass in Your Nose . . . . Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher. p. 112.