Embrace Wonder - Lent, Day 25
“What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.”—PSALM 104:24 (THE MESSAGE)
Reflect
Adulthood has a way of robbing us of the feeling of wonder, doesn’t it? Is there poetry in taxes? Is there amazement in doing the dishes? Not really. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said that “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement....Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” I don’t know how Rabbi Heschel had the energy to greet each new day with amazement. And yet, part of me thinks that would be wonderful—to be surprised by what the day holds or in awe of those around me. Perhaps we can start today. Look around you. What ordinary wonder have you missed?
Respond
Maybe we need a random list of things to wonder about. Like why does that cloud look like a dinosaur? Why do crickets chirp at night? What random things do you wonder about? Write them down as a reminder to wake-up each day looking for awe and wonder in the world around you.
Blessing to feel wonder again
You stand, stone still,
at the edge of disheartenment.
You hold this heavy certainty:
nothing changes, nothing lasts.
You feel hollow.
And yet, this world is full.
Warm earth pushing up new seedlings,
unfathomable oceans
teeming with mystery,
and the miracle of your very body—
fragile as it may feel—
carries the possibility of creating something new.
We are all swimming in wonder.
So why can’t we always feel it?
Your blood feels cold with each tiring loss.
Good things, beautiful loves,
pried from your fingers,
leaving them to feel empty now.
But still.
Even if, today, hope does not come,
may the lights at a neighbor’s house
glow like a jack-o’-lantern.
May the sounds wafting through your window—
a barking dog, kids running amok,
the buzz of a television
rehearsing the day’s calamities—
remind you that we persist somehow,
under a distant shadow,
But joyful anyway.
May the sun shine down
and touch you.
And may you bask in it,
feeling the low murmur of the ground
steady beneath your feet.
And as the earth makes turns creakily
toward night,
let the day fall in behind us.
“What next?” we will say to the night sky,
before we close the door
and consider its answer tomorrow.29
29 Kate Bowler. Adapted from “To Feel Wonder Again” in Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day: Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens. (New York: Convergent Books, 2024). 25.
© KateBowler.com
SONGS FOR SUNDAY
Glorious Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gklJ2XZwDHc
Son of Heaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST78WZjaWv4
Way Maker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29IxnsqOkmQ
I Exalt Thee