Choosing to Follow Wonder

Sometimes we hear words over and over and yet never really think about the depth of their significance. Words such as faith, hope, and love are examples of ideas we talk about often as Jesus followers. They’re in the Bible, yet sometimes we need to ask ourselves what we mean by each of these. What would happen if we embraced a fuller meaning found in each of these words?

The Bible also talks about wonders. Typically, the word is used to refer to supernatural miracles. Yet, “wonder” is also an expression we use to describe experiences we do not necessarily associate with a Sunday-morning sermon. We have the Seven Wonders of the World, the Seven Wonders of the Natural World, and the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (I’m not sure why it’s always restricted to seven). I personally use the word often to refer to my thinking process. But I still have to ask myself, what exactly is a “wonder”? Or what does it mean to “wonder”?

The Glory of the Heavens

I was seven years old the summer of 1969 when I watched Neil Armstrong take the first human step onto the moon. The sense of awe I experienced, even viewing it on a 19-inch black and white television screen, is still strong with me today. The next full moon found me staring at it trying to fathom the fascination of a man actually strolling across the surface of that glowing orb. The following few years, I kept track of all the news of the Apollo space program, clipping articles from newspapers and magazines for a “Space” scrapbook. I also announced to my family that I was going to be an astronaut. The amazement and glitter eventually wore off, however, as I entered my teen years. Star Wars, with all its crazy alien creatures, came to the theaters, and my reverence for space travel began to feel childish.

Why is it that the idea of “wonder” is often associated with children? Disney has made a lucrative business of stirring the childish sense of awe for kids of all ages. But for adults, does it mean more than a silly, immature pleasure of remembering back when I was supposed to believe in flying elephants and singing dwarfs?

An online dictionary defines “wonder” as a feeling of amazement and admiration, caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar. And it is true that children are most susceptible to this feeling, or at least they are the ones who have the least inhibitions for expressing it.

God, the Source of Wonder

I was recently in a meeting where we were asked to remember back to when we first encountered Christ. What was the initial attraction I felt for Him? I was raised in a Christian home as a pastor’s son. Steeped in Sunday school lessons, sermons, and the champion of many Bible quizzes. By the time I was 13, I believed I knew everything there was to know about being a Christian. I knew the “sinner’s prayer,” the “Romans Road” Bible verses and that I had asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was seven.

But I was bored with it all.

I was vaguely aware that it was all important stuff, but I was in no way captivated by any of it. And then one evening at a youth group meeting, a high school girl shared her testimony of Jesus meeting her. I remember being suddenly struck by the realization that God was real and present.

And most amazing of all . . . He wanted me.

As I reflected on this memory, it occurred to me that it was wonder that I experienced that night, and it was wonder that first opened the door for me to truly encounter Christ. I didn’t have words for it then, but I now see that I was caught up in the beauty and mystery of an eternal, all-powerful being choosing me and inviting me to be with Him. I was so intrigued, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. I wanted more. But I eventually had to reckon with what it meant for my sinful, self-centered heart to desire ongoing connection with this holy God who was reaching out. Repentance and forgiveness followed, and then the disciplines of study and prayer. But it was wonder that opened my eyes and drew me to Him in the first place. To this day, I don’t possess the words to adequately describe what I experienced.

Snapshots and Glimpses

That sense of wonder, to my disappointment, did not remain. I had to make choices to continue walking with God, sometimes hard and uninspired choices, sometimes fighting the overwhelming desire to just give up. Faith was required, stirred, and stretched. But there now was the awareness of something bigger than myself, beyond myself calling me to move towards a future where I could dwell forever in the beauty and esteem that I had tasted for a moment.

Throughout the years that followed, I experienced more touchpoints of wonder. Sometimes through study; sometimes through prayer; sometimes moments like that initial one, surprising me out of nowhere with the realization that reality is so much more than this physical world and there is One who loves me and calling me forward. The reference point has been refreshed and reinvigorated multiple times. And I don’t believe each new glimpse can be called a mere emotional high. Each encounter points to an ongoing hope that there is something ahead that makes any present pain, betrayal, confusion, or disappointment worth enduring . . . because He is giving me tastes of His goodness and glory.

It is All Around Us

Once I acknowledged the wonder of God’s love, His pursuit of and plans for me, I began to see the beauty, mystery, and threads that bind together all of life. A man walking on the moon still can stir a sense of awe within. But I can have the same response seeing the longing of every human heart yearning for companionship. The interconnectedness of all aspects of life’s choices strike me as more and more beautiful, as does the mystery of the quantum world of physics. And few things stir my sense of wonder as observing the intense love of a mother for her baby. So many surprising sources of beauty!

Jesus said, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3 ESV). Experiencing wonder is not meant to be isolated to a child’s trip to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. Neither does one have to become an astronaut to take in the glory of the heavens. Your Heavenly Father has much He wants to share with you now, if you will only turn, humble yourself and approach Him with the faith of a child. He wants you to be drawn to that which is bigger than yourself. And of course, that is HIM!

Our Creator is the source of all true wonder. Pursue it with an open heart, and you will find Him!

Response:

• What triggers a sense of wonder in me? Beauty? Mystery? That which is bigger and beyond my ability to control or manage?
• What are my childhood memories of wonder? When did they begin to fade?
• What stirs a sense of wonder in me as an adult?
• How might wonder lead me closer towards God and His realm?
• How might pursuing wonder better prepare me for eternity?
• Jesus, show me the hope and wonder of your kingdom!