It was dark when we (Koda and me) travelled to Drumkeeragh Forrest. That darkness provided the best backdrop for the oranges and reds that lit up the sky in the distance. Wow!
When’s the last time you said wow. Not sarcastic wow but amazed at that wow. A toddler can take many minutes turning over a bit of fluff in the fingertips, enjoying what it looks like and what it feels like. But something has happened since that age that has at best dampened and at worst deadened our wonder of the world around us.
Is it that we have become so fixated with our thoughts, our lives or our screens that we have failed to lift our heads, open our eyes and really see.
What will it take to reactivate our delight?
When we see the world as simply the space in which our lives happen and fail to see it's beauty, our hearts I think shrivel up. But when we stand at the Windy Gap or see the oranges and reds of a sun rise our hearts are captivated. We are drawn out of ourselves. We see the condors and colours of a world that is truly alive and our hearts soar.
But where do they soar to?
When we remove God from the picture, where do we go? The vast emptiness just echoes our wow back to us. The wonder becomes a little flatter; our note of joy becomes a little shorter. Something is lost but we can’t put our finger on it. It’s like receiving an expensive gift in the post but you can’t work out the sender. You can still enjoy the gift but your joy would be multiplied if you could thank someone and discover the reason why the gift was given.
We live in an utterly magical world. Science has given us more reason to delight in it’s beauty. Under a microscope it captivates us in it’s minute wonder. Through a telescope we are blown away. From whatever angle we look at it, it is breathtakingly magnificent. The problem is we seldom take the time to fully appreciate it. If we were to, it would draw us out of our preoccupation with ourselves, lift us from gazing at our feet, brighten our eyes and cause us to utter a loud who-cares-who-hears-it wow!
That’s Jesus advice. He says
“See how the lilies of the field grow…”
Look at them, consider them, watch them each day.
“They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.”
The richest man ever, with all his resources and access to the best skills of the time, could not even come close to the splendour of flowers that just grow in the field. And that’s still true.
And here’s the point of focusing on these wild flowers.
“If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry…” (You can read the rest of what Jesus says here)
Did you notice how focusing on the beauty of the world around us brings us to the One who made it and from there we looked at our own problems differently. Or to put another way our wow when directed towards the Giver leads us to an Aha moment.
Could it be that we have forgotten this ancient way out of our anxieties? Has progress caused us to speed past the beauty of our world in our rush through our day? Bypassing the flowers, the fields and the views we speed towards stress, anxiety and fear.
Is wonder the forgotten ingredient to life?
What would happen if we were to slow down long enough to gaze at that mountain scene, at that last leaf on the tree or at the sunset? If we took a breathe and paused it would stir something deep in us. Something that would cause us to utter that massive word, Wow. And not a wow echoed into emptiness but a wow directed to the One who gave it all to us. Then watch and see how that wow changes you.
Creation sings the Father’s song; He calls the sun to wake the dawn And run the course of day, Till evening comes in crimson rays. His fingerprints in flakes of snow, His breath upon this spinning globe, He charts the eagle’s flight, Commands the newborn baby’s cry.
Hallelujah! Let all creation stand and sing: “Hallelujah!” Fill the earth with songs of worship, Tell the wonders of creation’s King.
(taken from Creation Sings by Stuart Townsend and Keith and Kristyn Getty)
(Microscope image is of an Espresso coffee crystals | Photo credit: Vin Kitayama and Sanae Kitayama)