Last week, I had the privilege of meeting with one of the world’s leading spine surgeons to talk about a research study he’s completing. Our meeting was held at his office at UCLA, and as I walked the halls of the hospital, I had to stop at a worn, black and white picture. The picture, blown up to poster size, was of the founding medical staff of the prestigious hospital. All the men (no women) in the picture looked very serious, learned, and most respectable. Just guessing, I’d say it was taken sometime in the early thirties.

But what really caught my eye was a sticky note that said, “If you know any of these people, call Marge at extension so-and-so.” It seems that the hospital’s historian was trying to match the names of the founders with the faces on the picture! I paused to look more carefully. There they were: bold, learned men of vision and action. Just the sort of men you hope your boys grow up to be. Think of their combined wisdom and their courage! Yet most of them were begging for a name.

It was kind of sad, really, that in just three or four generations, we who walk the halls of the institutions they founded don’t even remember their names. But then I realized that the feeling of sadness is from a completely humanistic point of view! Those lives lived stand for more than their professional and personal accomplishments. We believe that each one of them had the chance to have a unique relationship with God himself. And what makes us confident of so bold a claim? First of all, I think, there is uniqueness to each of us. Our Designer has endowed us with unique traits and makeup that are the basis for our diversity. And it’s not only in our lives, but in the makeup of every DNA-bearing creature on earth. This diversity extends from human life to snowflakes and, indeed, to every star in the universe! What’s it all mean? If you are hoping for all the answers, this is not your blog! But the miracle in plain sight is the diversity in creation. How can there be such endless variety, yet with common threads throughout? I humbly submit that the Creator who knows each of us delights in our uniqueness.