It's the infinitesimal; can you see it? I hold a piece of it in the palm of my hand. My daughter, she sees it, glittering on the bathroom floor. "Mommy, there's something shiny on the floor." "Oh, do you want to pick it up?" She does, and she gives it to me. My gosh, how did she even notice this tiny thing. It's transparent; it must've glinted as light refracted off it and she caught the glimpse. Can you believe it? I am touched deeply.
The infinitesimal is defined* as "taking on values arbitrarily close to but greater than zero; immeasurably or incalcuably small." At its base is infinite: "extending beyond, lying beyond, or being greater than any preassigned finite value however large; extending to infinity." There is finite: "having definite or definable limits." The meaning is pieced together: in the word infinitesimal, it fits.
The value of the tiny stitches, as shown here, add up immeasurably. Within our definable limits, there is infinite greatness. It could be glistening on the bathroom floor, even. Is there math to describe this?
My son said it about his sea creature collage once, explaining how "the small things, they're so cool, but it's like no one even pays attention to them." But we're learning of their importance, and to look and see. To wonder in awe and reverence at the snowflakes, sand grains and amoebas.
"As for me, I would seek God and inquire of and require Him, and to God would I commit my cause--
Who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number..." (Job 5:8-9), as I meditate upon the meaning that the infinitesimal is producing
...continuously...
*(all definitions from Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed.)
Sharing with:
Awww. I love it when my kids give me their little discoveries.
ReplyDelete