Losing Our Wonder

I'm beginning to think that perhaps we've lost our wonder. Perhaps this world is spinning too fast and it's all going too out-of-control and just maybe He's getting pushed out and we're becoming ungrateful...

I am blessed to "do life" in an amazingly beautiful place. I get to wake up every morning and raise the shades to see majestic mountains outside my window. I hear the roaring of whitewater every day as the river runs past my home. It's tranquility in all its most natural forms. And there's nothing I enjoy more than getting to share this incredible spot of mine with others, especially those who have never seen created beauty like this ever before. 

Yet I'm noticing a growing trend that disturbs me... when people come in contact with this raw and stunning landscape, they often start off by saying, "I know this seems silly..." or "This is probably a bit childish of me..." as if to apologize for being lost in a moment of awe and wonder. Now, I get it that sometimes they say this because they know I behold this view all the time and they're playing the "tourist card" for their response in the moment, but it's becoming obvious to me that we're losing the ability to simply stop and say, "wow." 

It's almost as if we feel guilty and must give ourselves permission to be awed. As if, just maybe, the Creator has become a bit too small in our eyes and we can't seem to let ourselves be amazed. As if His many evidences of grace have grown to be too common... 

Lose the ability to be amazed, and you've lost everything. 

The words to an old hymn just now came to mind. "...Lost in wonder, love, and praise..." And isn't that really what this life is meant for? 

I ask myself, if Christ taught that we are to become as little children if we are to obtain the Kingdom of Heaven, isn't wonder the prime trait of the little ones? Children are amazed at everything! Even the small things are cause for excitement, joy, and pleasure. But somehow, in the midst of everything adult, we're losing the capability to embrace a moment of sheer awe. And just perhaps this is keeping us from really seeing the Kingdom for what it truly is. 

When life becomes about more - more God, more grace, more abundance - then you never fail to spot miracles. You never cease to worship because all your days are one, big amen. All your moments are "wow" because the same God who breathed and spoke all this awesomeness into existence lives inside of you and holds you together, and you are never alone. 

It's this ugly world that teaches us to rush past. To never pause. To always be chasing the next big thing when, often, God is showing up in the small ones, but we never see Him because we're just. too. busy. 

And if we're to be people who reflect and are aware of their Maker, then we must somehow begin to tell ourselves that it's okay to be floored by who God is and what He has done. An apology can never proceed a moment of wonder. If there's anything to apologize for, it's to our Creator for not allowing ourselves to listen and look for Him when He's shown up.  

The world will never slow down. There will always be new ways of doing things faster, more demands on our time already limited and with them will come more feelings of guilt that we're somehow not keeping up and everything and everyone is passing us by. But perhaps we end up regretting more instead that we didn't slow down enough, that we didn't take control of our schedules and make ourselves slow so that we could discover what this one short life is really all about. 

God has moments of delight and amazement everywhere. But we must learn to order our lives to God's pace and not the world's.