While we focus on our own species, there is something we have in common with all living things. It might be called “Life Force.” It is the one thing that differentiates us from totally inanimate objects.
You may not feel you have anything in common with a jellyfish or the dandelions in your lawn, but you have more than you realize. All life forms have the trait of growth and maturity stemming from a particular combination of elements that exist in the seed of the earliest stages of that organism’s existence.
This is one of those concepts where logic alone just doesn’t cut it. Regardless of your faith beliefs, you must concede that the complex behavior of living organisms requires something beyond simple science.
As a tree grows from a seed, what causes the dividing cells to form roots which seek water and nutrients while other cells develop the sprouts that burst through the soil to seek the sun? In a human embryo, or any other animal life form, how does one dividing cell create a colony to create limbs, while another cell branches off to create a nervous system? These are mysteries that clearly defy the logic of science. These are the traits of living things that cannot be easily explained by DNA or any other element of life forms.
These are the mysteries that loudly proclaim the existence of a higher power.
A rock has no need for nourishment. A living thing, no matter how simple, instinctively seeks nutrition to sustain itself and grow. A diamond, no matter how precious and rare, does not seek to duplicate itself. Every living thing instinctively acts to reproduce itself.
Rocks and diamonds are inert objects. Living things all function with a power that we might call a life force. Like so many of the mysteries of our existence, the life force demands an understanding, and even a vocabulary, that lies outside our ability to comprehend.
Our science and logic have been able to unravel many of the mysteries of the universe. Science has developed the ability to utilize, modify, or even create many of the miracles of our universe. That spark of life that turns a mass of simple molecules into a living thing remains a secret known only to God.
With that as a foundation, we can each build our faith, secure in the knowledge that there are powers that can only be wielded by God. And perhaps the source of that indescribable power is love.