We have our first child due in just a few weeks, and the other day my wife told me an interesting fact about the umbilical cord after we got out of our final ultrasound appointment.

A note about ultrasound technology: As advanced as this technology is, it had us thinking that our first impression of our child's face has been slightly tainted. That's how high-quality these ultrasound images are getting!

My wife explained to me that the umbilical cord contains three distinct vessels that work in perfect unison to sustain the fetus. One vein and two arteries. Three vital vessels comprise the structure of the lifeline connecting mother and child. 

What's amazing about this is the significance of three. In Orthodox Christian theology the Holy Trinity is the living source of all existence. Just as the umbilical cord nourishes and provides life to the developing baby in the womb, the Holy Trinity continually sustains, nourishes, and deifies creation. Creation cannot exist independently of God. 

God's design permeates all things, from all space and time down to the very beginnings of our life in the womb. Even before we are born, the Holy Trinity sustains us, and it is clear in the very anatomy of the umbilical cord. Even our Lord Jesus who took on flesh and was born of a virgin received life from her body in the same way. To say that He did not have a functional umbilical cord would be a rejection of the Incarnation.

It is mind-boggling that the infinite God becomes so small that He is anchored to a specific womb, receiving his human life from Mary's breathing and body. This is how close God wants to be to us as His Creation; God became flesh and in the Incarnation was knit together in the womb in the same manner that we are. He intimately shares in our humanity.

And as for the spirit, since we are all both body and soul, we can look to the Psalms which the Holy Spirit uses in prayer to knit together the fragmented pieces of our souls ...

For you formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

Psalm 139: 13-18 (NKJV)

Thanks for reading! Share this post with someone who might find it encouraging. And thanks for my wife for telling me about the umbilical cord and inspiring this little exploration. I will no doubt return to this subject in the future.

Header image from Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas Shrine in New York City.