Introduction

Before they are born, all human beings—including yourself—spend nine months in their mothers' wombs. At the beginning of its development, each human being consists of a tiny collection of cells just starting to divide and develop.

On the 22^nd day, the embryo is even smaller than a baked bean. One day, a small node of cells in the center of that assemblage receives a command and suddenly starts pulsating. All the other cells in the body lie quiet. But this group is in constant motion, and never stops for as long as the person will live.

Never does it feel the need to stop for even a moment's rest—not until the day, decades later, when it receives the ultimate command to stop.

During the intervening period, a human being completes his or her lifespan. Who gives this tiny node the command to start and finally stop?

This perfect pump, which began its beating when you were just three weeks old in your mother's womb, bears a most important responsibility: ensuring the circulation of the blood in your body. In other words, it maintains life in the 100 trillion cells in your body which are just as alive as you. It permits these cells to absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide. It nourishes and cleanses them, cures them of their diseases and ailments, and guards them against their microbe enemies…

Who establishes the cells that comprise you—and thus, this system that keeps you alive?

And what have you done to ensure the existence of this circulatory system that gives you life? There was absolutely nothing you could do to have formed such a system, because before you even opened your eyes, you began living according to a regimen prepared for you in advance. Your body was prepared for you in a flawless manner. For example, a perfect pair of eyes was created for you to be able to see your surroundings clearly.

Although you had never encountered the air in the external world until the moment you were born and took your first breath, the respiratory system that enables you to breathe was formed while you were still in your mother's womb. You were born with a ready-made digestive system that would eventually digest foods of all kinds. Your body came "ready-made," bearing fingers and toes with their prints unique to you, eyelids and lashes to protect your eyes from foreign bodies, and countless other such organs and distinctive features.

In addition, protective measures—such as the reflex that enables you to protect your eyes by closing them when an object approaches at high speed—and many others were prepared and placed in your body. But you never made any effort to acquire any of these features.

It is God Who created these systems for you and placed them in your body in the most flawless manner. Almighty God created the same perfect systems in all human beings who have ever lived, and in all those billions of humans who are living today.

The heart that gives you life and the circulation system are a central, indispensable part of this flawless and impeccable order. The miraculous fluid known as blood, pumped by your heart muscle, has been carrying life-giving substances to every cell in your body from the moment it started to flow. Blood reaches every point in the body, from the eyes to the fingers, through a perfect circulatory network that interpenetrates the entire body. As you grow, so it expands. When you fall ill, it protects you. It enables your every cell to be nourished so you can keep on living. It cleans your body of wastes and impurities. Most important of all, it undertakes the responsibility for carrying oxygen molecules to every cell in your body, thus keeping you alive.

This fluid flowing through your body, your blood, is a special blessing and a great miracle. Let us examine how it operates so that we may once again witness the existence and might of our Lord, the Creator.