Is “7” the Magic Number?

Recently I had a rough night that segued into an even rougher morning. I’d had some bad dreams and remnants of them lingered. When they were added into things in my life that I wished were dreams that might end … well, as you might be able to imagine, it turned the corner towards worse instead of better.

I’m internally built to keep sort of a timeline of events in my head, and therefore in my heart. I think it’s partially my way of letting me adjust to episodes and remember where I was and what I was doing, or going through, during particular times or seasons. On that morning, I found myself wishing I could go back to life seven years ago … it would have placed me in a time period that was relatively free of intense mental and emotional pain.

Maybe, like me, you can look back at one life-changing event that seemed to be the catalyst for more and more of those painful times. For me, it was the day our oldest son called to say, “Mom, it’s cancer.” Those are not three words strung together that any parent wants to hear. But those words were also the ones that would open a door for me to say, “There will be a second book” … even though I didn’t know it at the time. I hadn’t even finished the first one yet and was still pretty sure it would definitely be the one and only one I would write!

But, on that particular morning just a few weeks ago, when I was emotionally circling the drain, it was partly because my brain was on a continuous loop of all the things that have taken my feet out from under me through the recent past. Do you have things like that in your life … memories that in the right timing can slam into you with enough force to lay you out flat and immediately reduce you to sobbing? And they don’t even have to be recent ones … they might have happened years ago. At least long ago enough that a part of your brain whispers, “You should be over it by now.” Which only adds guilt into the equation.

I found myself in my husband’s arms, brokenly saying through my sobs that I wanted it to be seven years ago. And then, when he asked why, verbally listing all of the people and situations that have brought so much anguish since then. He comforted me as well as he could (not an easy task) and when I was a little bit calmer a thought popped into my head: hadn’t I heard that the human body swaps out all of its cells every seven years? Wouldn’t that mean that on a cellular level, I am a totally different person than I was on the day I got that phone call from our son? I decided to pursue that thought a little further and see where it lead. But first I needed to do some research.

Many times, technology and I have serious disagreements, but in times like this I really do appreciate being able to do a Google search. Was everyone else aware that Quest Labs has an editorial team? I mean, literally … they are called the “Quest Editorial Team!” Well, an article from 2020 popped up in answer to my question about the human body’s cells. In a nutshell this is what it said.

The process is called ‘cell regeneration’ and the answer to the seven-year timeline query is “Yes … and no.” On an average your body’s cells regenerate every 7-10 years, with a lot of variation: skin cells are replaced every few weeks, but skeletal muscle cells can take as long as 15 years. And a 2020 study found that if an adult has a brain injury, cells revert to a less mature state, and from there they may be able to regrow! So, I’m not a totally new person … but a lot of my cells are new.

Kind of makes me wish that the non-physical part of me had cells that were just automatically sloughed off and replaced periodically. Fresh, new, with no dents, dark spots, damages or disfunctions. But since that isn’t how it works, I’ll hang on to the promises of Scripture, like the one that says God’s mercies are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23) Heaven knows I need a renewed batch on a regular basis.

And as I receive and focus on those mercies, the promise from Ezekial 36:26 will be mine to claim: “I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” With that new heart I can join the psalmist in saying, “He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.” (Psalm 40:3)

Maybe that’s how my mental and emotional “cells” are meant to be regenerated!