So, you don’t think much of me? Well, listen here! Ultimately, like you, I’m just one of the Creator’s originals. Now please don’t look down so on me. I was created just as perfectly as you were, although I’ve been given other duties. That’s why my Creator also had me take on another form. Besides, I’m more important to you than you think! If you’d have a little patience and listen, you’ll certainly be amazed, and may even learn to respect me and my kind.
My Upbringing
My first memories are of a rubbery abdominal bandage, sealed at both ends, where I safely grew. I left it behind though, as soon as I felt strong enough. My real home is in the soil where you plant your tomatoes and cucumbers, play football and build homes. That’s where I dig till I drop. My home is fairly deep – about 1.5 metres under the surface. That puts me deeper than the average worm. As far as I know the deepest recorded depth for a worm is about 8 metres. I’m homeward bound twice yearly; winter and summer. That’s when I curl up cozily, and wait for better times.
My Name
I’m your everyday garden worm or earthworm. If you like being really precise you can also call me ‘Lumbricus terrestris’. That sounds very scientific but it generally means the same thing. Sometimes I’m called the common earthworm but that doesn’t say much for my uniqueness as one of God’s creatures. I may be common, but nevertheless I’m a wonderful creation.
Some of you have a problem – you see yourselves as ordinary. You think you’re unnecessary and even quarrel with God about it. What do you think you’re doing! Even the most everyday things have so many wonderful aspects to them that it’s hard to stop marvelling at them once you’ve started. Furthermore, God’s world can’t just consist of remarkable creatures; it needs ordinary ones too, like you and me!
My Burrowing Techniques
Have you ever thought about how I burrow? Perhaps you wondered how I manage it. After all, I don’t use a shovel like you, nor do I use a digger for that matter, either. I just need to use my strong pointed head. It’s so finely formed that it can fit into the smallest crevice. I nose my head into the crack, flex the muscles, which my Creator so amply supplied me with, and force the earth apart, just like a wedge.
You may ask yourself how I get by without a skeleton. My Constructor had to come up with a pretty good idea. If I want to use my muscles correctly, I need a support, as pressure always produces counter pressure. You’ve most certainly learned that in physics at some time or another. So my wise Creator fitted me with two pressure-pillows that are arranged in each of my many segments (try and count them), around my middle intestine. Scientists have measured that a pressure of 1,560 Pascal (= 1.54% atmospherical pressure) results when I flex my muscles. That may not sound like much to you, but remember, I’m a worm. Let’s change the subject; I’m not sure I want to bore you with any more complicated details.
My Movement
Now you must know this: have you ever studied how I get about on the ground? I’m sure you’ve noticed how I can stretch and shrink my segments. What you probably didn’t see is that there are ‘anchors’ which I throw out on both sides each time I compress a few segments. I push out two short brushes on each side into the surrounding soil. ‘Anchored’ in this way, I can stretch my frontal segments and thus make good headway.
Please don’t get me wrong: these brushes are not the remnants of some primeval fur coat. My ancestors were just as smooth as I am, as they too were specially constructed for our way of life. Anyway, what would I do with a fur coat underground? These anchor brushes don’t even disturb me, and when I don’t need them they conveniently hide away in pockets of skin.
Do you think that all this developed by itself? Well, you don’t believe that your wristwatch developed and constructed itself, do you? I’m much more complicated than a watch, don’t you think? At least, that’s my opinion! Can your watch reproduce?
My Stature
It’s about time I said something about myself: I’m now about one year old and 20 centimetres long. Some of my family can live to be 10 years old. Our largest relatives live in Australia. With a cross-section of three centimetres some of them achieve an overall length of three metres. Pretty big for a worm, eh?
My brain resides above my pharynx. Although it’s smaller than yours, it works in principally the same way. Perhaps you thought I didn’t need one? Would you like to explain how I’m supposed to walk in a hurry, with three contraction and expansion waves running simultaneously over my body without a brain! As for my eye, it’s just a light-sensitive area on my head. My Creator knew I wouldn’t need anything complex. What use would I have had for anything more complicated? I only need to recognise when I’ve reached the soil surface and should be digging back into the depths. Sunlight is dangerous, if not deadly for me. All the same, I can withstand dehydration of up to 70 % of my body weight, or alternatively I can live 100 days underwater. How long do you think you’d hold out?
My Enemies
I really don’t like talking about them, but if you want to understand me, you’ll have to hear about that, too, because it has to do with one of my most amazing characteristics. My enemies have quite a difficult time trying to kill me, as I can lose parts of my anatomy, without it adversely affecting my life! Not only that, but under certain circumstances, I can regenerate missing limbs. My Creator programmed my genes so that my tail grows back if it should accidentally get cut off, but that’s not all. Even my head with all its tiny intricacies can re-emerge. I’m not pulling your leg, it’s true! Unfortunately my enemies, the moles, also make good use of this. They usually catch me if I happen to stumble into one of their homes. They first bite off my head, complete with three or four segments. This in effect makes escape impossible (you try moving without a brain), and stick me onto a wall in their larder. A Polish biologist once counted 1,200 worms in a chamber like this. If I survive the mole’s voracity through the winter I still have a chance to escape, provided my head has grown back. Unfortunately the mole is not my only enemy. Well, you know, earthworms are world renowned for their politeness … so I won’t say anymore.
Did you know that we also suffer because of the fall of man? Your ancestors have a lot to answer for. We all are waiting expectantly for the day when the whole of creation will be set free from this ‘bondage of corruption’. If you’d like to read about it, open up Romans 8:19-23!
My Diet
Now, first and foremost, I have been given work to do in this world. The Creator gave me the job of fertilising and loosening up the soil. So my pathways run all the way through mother earth. If it gets too hard and I can’t find any cracks to squeeze through, then I simply ‘spit’ on the earth in front of me. Then when it’s softened up, I just eat it. That’s my own special way of getting into the deeper earth layers. I gobble up foliage and other organic materials. Just imagine all the things that wander through my stomach, the remainder of which ends up in little heaps of muck on the surface of the soil! It really isn’t that revolting; it turns out to be the best compost on the market.
My Performance
Scientists have calculated that given one hectare (= 10,000 m2) of good soil, the worms contained in it can produce more than 100 kg of humus in a 24 hour period. That’s 40 tons a year spread evenly over the soil surface. Of course, I don’t work alone. Besides me, about 150,000 other earthworms live in the space of an average football field. In a rich meadow there could even be a couple of million of us. You’d definitely run into difficulties if you wanted to weigh all of us. We’d weigh about 500 kg on the scales. That’s about as much meat as you would get if you raised beef cattle on the same field.
At any rate, we get a lot of praise from experts for our amazing restructuring and processing performance. If you give us a little time, say 300 to 400 years, you can be sure that the whole earth surface to a depth of 40 centimetres has wandered through our intestines.
That’s how we complete the job that our Creator gave us. The very fact that we’re here, though you may think it insignificant, serves to glorify Him.