"Mom, mom, come look!" the sound of his voice was racing through the house just ahead of his feet. Micah had been sent outside now that the weather was warming, and the wind whispered a hint of spring. Moms like to open things up after a long winter, air things out- not only their house but their children as well.
"Mom, you just gotta come see this." The first really warm day had found Micah looking over his father's shoulder as dad changed the oil on the car. Micah liked being with his dad, whatever they did together was really cool and it was especially fun to watch the oil flow into the drip pan.
Jordan came from her work in the house, joining Perry in the driveway. What they saw was a mess; some of the oil had accidently spilled mixing with the stream of snow trickling down the driveway. Parents being parents began to think of cleaning up the spill.
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Rev. David Maxfield
"Look!" Micah interrupted their thoughts, "It's a rainbow"
"You've gotta see this!" Recently a group of young people who learn with me were looking at the stars and trying to get our minds around the vastness of the cosmos as the presenter compared the earth to a golf ball and then told us of a star that is the size of six Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other. As if that wasn't enough to blow our minds he took us from the vastness of space to the mystery of a cell as he taught us about a protein molecule called Laminin. As I understand it Laminin is the protein adhesive molecule which holds cells, organs and pretty much all of you and me together. It's sort of the gorilla glue of life. What caught the attention of the presenter was the design of the Laminin protein molecule; it has a shape of a free-form cross. (Thanks to Louis Giglio; "How Great is Our God")
A rancher friend of mine is getting ready for calving in a few weeks. Being a city boy I don't always appreciate the hard work and round the clock attention which is needed this time of year. What I do know a little of is the way his voice softens when he talks about the birth of a new life.
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What do these three stories have in common? What do they show us that we don't see when we look at a puddle, the stars, or a cow? What they teach me is wonder. Ah, to have the child-like wonder that can look at life and see the splendor, the delight hidden in each moment, and in places unaware. I can't speak for you, but I find myself too often in the shoes of a parent (I have two delightful daughters), or too often in one of the many different roles I play in life. Schedules, deadlines (like an article for the paper), meetings, all of the doings of daily life often leave me wondering what happened today when I sit in the stillness of an evening.
Wonder is a gift. It is the doorway to mystery, to awe, to God. Wonder is a part of the Bible from Abraham the star-gazer to Moses who listened to burning bushes. David saw the ways of the Lord on a hillside as he tended sheep, and young Mary's life was forever changed when wonder interrupted her life with the flutter of angel's wings. Jesus looked at life with the eyes of wonder and could find a hint of heaven in the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. Is there a greater sense of wonder than the reality of the resurrection?
"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush a fire with God; but only those who see take off their shoes" Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
I pray for the gift of wonder to see the rainbow in the puddle and maybe catch a glimpse of God.