Kelly M. Kapic - Youre Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect Gods Design and Why Thats Good News

Facing Our Finitude

The result of busyness is that an individual is very seldom permitted to form a heart.

Sren Kierkegaard, journal entry

Many of us fail to understand that our limitations are a gift from God, and therefore good. This produces in us the burden of trying to be something we are not and cannot be.

Not in Control

Creaturely finitude is less an idea we discover than a reality we run into.

Todd and Liz had been married and childless for many years, so Lizs sudden pregnancy filled them with joy and expectation. They were going to have a baby but hadnt found out yet if it was a boy or girl, let alone picked the babys name. Without warning, however, events spiraled out of control. The baby was born prematurely, at just twenty-five weeks, three days after Christmas. Their joy had turned to alarm. Unsure of how long he would live, they immediately named him Findley Fuller after their mothers maiden names; Liz and Todd told me that in the uncertainty of whether he would live or die they chose a name for their son that reflected his place in a larger family and a larger story. He was not alone; to the God of the living they entrusted their son and his story.

In previous centuries, or even previous decades, medical practice would not have been able to save Finns life. He needed twenty-four-hour care, and even with medical advances the prognosis didnt look great. Would he make it through the night, through the week? His system was very fragile: he struggled with everything from breathing to seizures, from infections to dangers to his young eyes. Each day brought not only fresh hope but also new obstacles. Finn was a strong little guy and a fighter, but the odds didnt look good.

Finitude , n . The condition or state of being finite; the condition of being subject to limitations; = FINITENESS n.

Finiteness , n. The quality or condition of being finite; the condition of being limited in space, time, capacity, etc.

Oxford English Dictionary

A few weeks into his sons fight for life, despite his exhaustion, Todd found the strength to send out a CarePage update on their sons condition, commenting, All of this brings loads of new fears and anxieties to Liz and me. But we trust in Gods faithfulness, mercy, and love. And we have confidence in the NICU medical staff. We acknowledge fear, but we cling to hope. Todd then reminded us that he was writing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and quoted from this American minister and civil rights advocate, who once said, We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. And then Todd signed off, God is able. He didnt mention our limits as an excuse for the doctors to give up but rather as the context for their best efforts. Only God was and is infinite.

The vulnerability of their sons life reminded Todd and Liz of their own tiny and comparatively weak place in an incomprehensibly huge and threatening cosmos. Standing in the hospital beside Findley, they were freshly aware that, from the odd asteroid to everyday germs, the parts of the world that can hurt us often operate beyond our control or even prediction. They had given their newborn son into the care of doctors, but even more so into the care of God. Still, even with this, how does one accept finite disappointment while maintaining infinite hope? Excellent nurses and doctors were working as hard as they could to preserve little Finns life, and Todd and Liz knew that the infinite God of grace and love cares more about them and their child than they ever could, so they took some comfort there. But when the brokenness of the world hits our human limitations, it strains our emotions, will, and understanding past their abilities.