Awe & Wonder

Have you noticed the awe and wonder a child has? I see this with my boys weekly as we drive in the car or walk in the neighborhood. Their sense of awe and wonder is cool. It’s also intriguing to see the distinct difference in my awe and wonder and how certain things just seem normal now. For example, my boys get hyped at seeing a robin, cardinal or blue jay on the back deck. They get giddy seeing a rabbit in the back yard as they chase it trying their hardest to get it. They get pumped going to see a movie at the theater and run to the doors with pure joy. They go nuts when they get a toy they wanted as a present. This usually means shouting, running and laughing. All of this is fun to watch. I get to see their innocence as they enjoy the simple of things of life with awe and wonder.

However, looking at my awe and wonder it’s extremely different. Seeing birds on the back deck or a rabbit in the yard doesn’t do much. It takes a huge gift to make me shout. It’s funny how we process adulthood with our emotions and excitement. Have you noticed it seems like we become more serious and less light-hearted? It seems we become more unbelieving than believing. This slowly takes away the awe and wonder of everyday life and the things we see around us. This also carries over into our faith too.

It’s common for Christ-followers to start out with great awe and wonder of God. Our lives are centered around Him, and our desire is to give our all to Him with joy and passion. In fact, it’s simple and clear as our hearts beat for Him; love God, love people. Then we get mature, and we change. The awe and wonder is replaced with a desensitized view so everything is ho-hum and expressed passion is minimal, but there is a better way.

Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 18:4,

“Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Matthew 18:4

It’s possible to have childlike awe and wonder as we get older; it doesn’t have to stop. Actually it shouldn’t stop because true maturing in Christ will cause us to be more humble, more aware of His grace and more aware of His love. Growing in our faith should produce more excitement, more joy and more passion as a result of knowing Him more fully. Yet, it seems the opposite happens! This proves itself as we live with no passion, have more questions than beliefs and look for ways to simmer down since we feel we know more.

Life is fun when we grow in awe and wonder for the small things. For example, we can enjoy hugging and kissing our spouse, laughing with our kids, feeling emotion and crying, taking time for friends, loving the sunshine and the rain and feeling the breath in our lungs and the chance to live another day. We can find awe and wonder because we have the chance to worship God in private and at church, have a Bible or two, listen to God speak to us and be in community with Christ-followers. These things can make life simple or they can be forgotten in the quagmire of adult thinking.

What do you choose?

When we choose to humble ourselves, a few things will happen within us. Our worship will be determined by our love for Him and not determined by our choice of music or the perfect atmosphere. In this place, we will bring the atmosphere with us as our love for Him brings Him close. This causes natural expression of love and joy, lifting Him up in our hearts. Our excitement will be tuned up. This produces expectation as we let go and believe with confidence that good things are coming. From this place, we crush doubt and a critical attitude. Our thankfulness will expand. Awe and wonder fuels thankfulness as it sees the small and big things and give thanks. It sees the glass half full. It focuses on what God has done and not what He hasn’t done. When we live like this, our joy grows because we see life through thanksgiving thus making the most of the present by living with an open heart now. How exciting when our worship, excitement and thankfulness are filled with awe and wonder!

So what do you choose? I encourage you to take the step of humility and experience new life and new courage in your faith. The moment is now to give Him your heart and to live with awe and wonder!

The best is ahead.

PD