Being Filled with Wonder and Awe

the small things 2There is time throughout the day to be filled with wonder and awe. I often forget to live life simply big, to look for those simple things that will fill my soul with wonder and awe.

Every sunrise that I greet is another opportunity to experience more grace, more hope, more joy, more peace, and more wonder and awe. Sometimes anxiety and impatience try to steal the excitement of discovering all of this. The walls of connecting rooms which I live attempt to confine the grandeur of God at work…God revealing his glory.

I pick up a magnifying glass to see what I’m missing.

I must inspect what God has promised in his Word, and to expect to be filled with wonder and awe.

To live life simply big…to be ready for more. I pray the Lord’s Prayer…”Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done…” to want nothing more than God’s glory and His will, to live and breathe His wonder and awe within these walls of connecting rooms…and beyond this place, for His Glory.

Here is a photo of my grandchild inspecting the wonder of a ladybug. It took a lot of bravery for her to hold a little insect in the palm of her hand. She was afraid because she didn’t like the feeling of the bug touching her skin.

Funny how the small things can be scary for us.

It’s in those small things that remind us of God’s infinite grace and love that will overwhelm the scary things so we can live experiencing more.  Dig deep into your memories of your first experience of wonder and awe of God’s grace in your life.

My grandchild is brave with a ladybug and it brings back a personal memory in my childhood of holding a snail…sliding on my arm…a snail with a broken shell. This simple life was sliding along a path in my mother’s flower garden. I noticed the shell was cracked. Carefully, I picked up the snail and held it in the palm of my hand.

I brought the snail, with it’s cracked shell, to my mother because she could fix everything broken. She quickly found white bandage tape and scissors and promptly taped the broken shell. Then she brought me an old shoebox and walked with me outside, while I held the snail, with its broken shell, secured with white tape.

My mother pulled up grasses and found pebbles and a little dirt to put inside the cardboard shoebox for my wounded snail.  And there it stayed. I watched it move about for many days. I held it in the palm of my hand and it would move slowly out of its shell along my skin.

One day, I released it back to the garden, with the white tape still holding the shell secure.

I can’t help but see the resemblance … I am broken and bandaged … by God’s grace.

Being filled with wonder and awe.
the small things

Wonder and Awe

Sunday Respite | Here I Am

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Now Moses was tending the flock … and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight–why the bush does not burn up.”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

Exodus 3:1-4

In the solitude of the wilderness, little did Moses know that today would be the beginning of a new chapter in his life. The burning bush was one of those life-altering events which happens but a few times in a person’s life.

Do we dare to ask God for a “burning bush” life-altering event?  Are you quiet enough to hear him call your name? Perhaps being in the wilderness is a good place to be … stop running away. God is here. God is with us. When you hear God’s voice, answer him, “Here I am.” Be deeply impressed with the holiness of God and live your life as a gift, an offering … embrace this time and place, choose to see what God is showing you. Open your eyes to the possible. Press on.

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14 (ESV)

Possibility

~Dave Harrity in Making Manifest: On Faith, Creativity, and the Kingdom at Hand

Jumping Tandem
Sandra Heska King - Still Saturday

With Our Eyes Looking Up

New Will Come

While enjoying a walk with a friend on a cool, windy afternoon, I stopped to take a picture of dried out leaf petals hanging from thin stems of a tree. He asked me, “Why did you take a photo of that? What is it that you like about bare trees with old brown leaves?”

I think old brown leaves are beautiful. Every tree is a piece of art, wearing delicate leaves like jewelry. I like the frailty of the leaf petals that would crush easily in my hand, yet there is strength in each one with hanging on to the stem, even the brisk wind has not set it free. Look at each petal and see the life that lingers. I like the shimmer of sunlight through each petal. I love the different shades of brown and tan against a glorious bright blue sky. And I had to be looking up to see it, instead of looking down at the path we are walking on. When I notice the old dry and dying things, it makes me more aware that new will come. Don’t you see?

The wind was cold. My nose began to drip. He smiled and said, “I see.” We pulled our jackets tight around our neck and began to walk together with our eyes looking up.

New Will Come 3

 

 

The Quiet Moments of Reflection and Stillness

Lake stillness

Hours spent on this deck drift away. Quiet conversations, making plans, sharing hope. Dreaming over-sized dreams. Our laughter bubbles over, slowly stopping with a smile, a wink and a sigh. The water is soothing. Birds are chirping. Geese follows the leader, honking for their young to keep up.

A Blue Heron catches the wind, flying overhead with a stick in its beak, landing on the very top of the highest pine tree, to build a nest.

Is there an Osprey nest close by? The great bird caught a fish in its talons and announced it loud. Searching for the sound, we look up to watch the grandeur.

We soak in the quiet stillness, giving way for the memories to carve a place to settle in deep.

There is a “for sale” sign in the window.

We will crave this moment when it is gone.

Lakelife stillness 2