Did you ever think how amazing it is that when a person reaches around 20 years old, his or her body stops growing? God, our Creator has wisely arranged this, for if our spines, legs and arms kept growing, what an amazing assortment of giants there would be!
However, three parts of our body do not stop growing — our hair, fingernails and toenails. Why is that? Actually, it is a kind provision of our Creator. Single hairs keep falling out and in time there would be none left if new hair didn’t push up through our scalp and grow a little bit every day, which it does at the rate of about six inches every year. This means that every 20 years about ten feet of new hair replaces what has fallen out.
But why should our fingernails and toenails keep growing? We can be thankful they do since nails sometimes get broken or damaged. If a new supply didn’t grow, the ends of our fingers and toes would soon be exposed to all the painful bumps and accidents now absorbed by the nails. They are really wonderful pieces of armor!
Also think how useful our fingernails are in picking up a coin dropped on the floor or a needle on a flat tabletop and many other small things. Without fingernails, how would you untie a knot in a thread or in a piece of string or in a fishing line? How would you relieve an itch if you had no fingernails to scratch with?
Some may think fingernails and toenails are bone, but they are not. They, like our hair, are made of a material called keratin. Cells right at the base of our hair roots grow and form a rod that grows hard as it’s pushed up from the skin, cut off from the supply of fresh cells. This process is called “keratinization.” Hair has three layers that are formed in this way. In the same way, skin cells below the roots of our fingernails move up to the surface of the skin, multiplying on the way, getting flat and tight near the root of our nails, and form into layers that make up our fingernails and toenails. This all comes from deep pockets in the skin on the ends of our fingers and toes. Interestingly, hair and nails grow faster in the summer and during the day.
This is all part of God’s wonderful plan, as our opening verse tells us. Each part of the body does just what He designed it to do originally. It is good to thank Him for all of His kind provisions for us, even in the many little details of our bodies. “Giving thanks always for all things unto God” (Ephesians 5:2020Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (Ephesians 5:20)).
Did You Know?
Every 20 years about ten feet of new hair replaces what has fallen out.
Messages of God’s Love 3/10/2024