In the past, presets and push buttons were preceded by a round dial. Remember the static you’d hear moving the red line between stations? Pinpoint accuracy was needed to match up the line exactly right to get the station of choice. One fraction of a millimeter to the left or right and clear reception morphed to something sounding like Apollo astronauts trying to connect with ground control.
Practically every scientist (of faith and non-faith) alike agree that our universe is fine-tuned with the same pinpoint precision needed to find your AM station. The radio dials of the cosmos are perfectly tuned to the right station in order for the universe, our galaxy, our sun, our planet and life itself to exist. Christian scientists (and no, that’s not an oxymoron) are convinced that God is the one turning the dials. Picture a control board with hundreds of dials and knobs that represent different parameters of physics. God has masterfully orchestrated those controls that allow each of us to be living on this round rock hurtling through space on its yearly lap around the sun.
In his book, Is God Real?, author Lee Strobel interviewed one of the world’s leading physicists, Michael G Strauss, PhD, who recounts numerous examples of the universe’s fine tuning. Referring to the control board analogy above, Strauss says, “if any of those hundreds of dials are turned slightly to the left or right, --poof! Intelligent life becomes impossible anywhere in the universe.”
It’s a mind-blowing chapter that Strobel makes easy for a non-scientist to understand. Here are a few examples of God’s fine tuning:
The amount of matter in the universe – “too much matter and the universe would collapse. Too little and the stars and planets couldn’t coalesce.”
The strength of the strong nuclear force – “this gives us the periodic table of elements.
If the force were two percent stronger, there’d be no hydrogen. A five-percent decrease and we’d have no hydrogen.”
The ratio of the electromagnetic force to the gravitational force is fine-tuned to one part in 10 thousand trillion, trillion, trillion.
Our sun is the right kind of sun and Earth is in the perfect place in the right kind of galaxy for any life more complex than bacteria.
The many just-right parameters that allow Earth to support life – “the distance from the sun, the rotation rate, the amount of water, the tilt, gravity that lets gases like methane escape but allows oxygen to stay.”
On that last note, another scientist set the number of conditions needed for life at 322.
Strobel asked Strauss what God can logically be like if he is the most likely explanation for our universe and planet. He replied with an eight-fold answer: God is transcendent, immaterial, timeless, powerful, intelligent, personal, creative, and caring.
The chaos in the daily news might cause you to doubt the existence of a personal and caring God. But if I look away from the headlines and focus on creation around me, I can only stand in awe that the Earth is filled not with chaos, but with so much finely tuned order.
Beautiful Karla and I recently hiked in Big Sur. We parked on Highway 1. Fifty yards to the west the jagged, rocky coast was battered by foamy, crashing waves. The sea was a deep, cobalt blue. Otters swam in the kelp forests and pelicans scanned the water for lunch, flying in a perfect V formation. To the east, we hiked into a densely wooded canyon along a meandering stream and through a towering redwood forest. Both unseen from the road. Drivers zoomed by on the highway totally unaware of the magical beauty of the canyon nestled a few steps away.
It was some seriously finely tuned beauty.
In the same way as a radio and the universe have been finely tuned, I think it’s important to fine-tune our gratitude.
Like cars speeding by on the highway, we can tend to zip through our days focused on the chaos in our lives: the worries, the problems, and the anxieties. Slowing down to fine-tune our gratitude helps bring order to the chaos. Finding time for solitude and silence have been massively helpful to me in managing life’s pressures. These moments of quiet are essential. In the morning before the family awakes. Driving to work. A walk around the neighborhood or along the beach.
During these times I try to fine-tune my gratitude. I like to pinpoint the things for which I’m thankful and then try take thanksgiving a few layers deep. I see not just the trees, but the various shades of green. Have you even been thankful for chlorophyl and photosynthesis? Not just the flowers, but the dozens of differences among them. Not just my health, but my eyes, and all the parts and inner workings going on to allow me to see the words on this screen. How about pollination, the water cycle, and the various spices that combine to make today’s stuffing, gravy, and pumpkin pie so delicious?
I think they’re all gifts of God’s grace.
Try it yourself. Make a list of the top 10 things for which you’re thankful. Then, add five items under each 10 that are also deserving of gratitude. Pretty soon you’ll have a finely tuned list of 50 things. A flow-chart of thanksgiving.
The photo above stops Merton’s quote short. It should read, “To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.”
Sounds like Merton, a priest and author, knew something about finely tuned gratitude.
Here’s hoping you do too.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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