Allow Your Wonder to Wander
Elder and retired pastor Wes Granberg-Michaelson views awe and wonder as resources to inspire us when we come to the end of our own knowing:
When your rational certainty breaks down—as of course it will—give attention to where your soul, the integrated center of your being, wanders. Where are you drawn? What do you long for? What gives you joy? What captures your curiosity? My guess is that you will be drawn to beckoning experiences of connection…. These will likely include connections not only to people, but to the created world where experiences of awe and transcendence intersect with you in worship, music, art, and practices that unlock a fresh spiritual encounter opening your inner self to God’s presence.
Those who are called mystics nearly always display an intimate sense of connection to the created world. Often this comes with striking particularity, like a reflection on a stone, or Julian of Norwich’s vision of a hazelnut. Because mystics grasp the interconnection of all things, they perceive God’s presence as comingled with all creation. Contemplation radicalizes the sense of God’s presence in the world….
But you don’t have to be Julian of Norwich or Thomas Merton to participate in this understanding of interconnectedness. The doorways that open the pathway of this experience will vary according to your life’s setting and history. But in the shroud of intellectual uncertainty and doubt, you are likely to be drawn to experiences with nature that inspire transcendent awe…. You discover instances of inspiration and wonder that move beyond and beneath mere cognition.
Maybe your wandering time leads you on a wilderness hike when you cross a ridge and are awestruck by a shimmering alpine lake reflecting a snow-covered mountain peak like a mirror. Or maybe you happen upon a firefly at nightfall in your backyard, where that tiny, sudden light blinks up, rises, and settles on your arm. In simple and unexpected moments of epiphany, you will sense that you are connected to creation in ways that bypass your self-protective, preoccupied, rational mind. Your task? Be attentive. Allow your wonder to wander.
Granberg-Michaelson shares in a journal entry from his twenties how he was moved by the beauty of creation:
Whenever one is moved to awe by the beauty of creation, one is moved by God. God, the Creator of both the beauty, and of the inner feelings that excite the soul.
The inspiration we feel in the presence of beauty causes us to transcend ourselves, and in so doing, this is the testimony to the presence of God in the world. Regardless of one’s intellectual view of God, when one is moved beyond him or herself, beyond a preoccupation with one’s own being to the recognition of the greatness that is other than him or her, then the inward urge to worship and adore such beauty means one is being moved by God toward God.
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| Wrestling Before God. from Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest Take up the whole armor of God…praying always… Ephesians 6:13,18 You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God, and wrestle in prayer for other people; but to wrestle with God in prayer is unscriptural. If you ever do wrestle with God, you will be crippled for the rest of your life. If you grab hold of God and wrestle with Him, as Jacob did, simply because He is working in a way that doesn’t meet with your approval, you force Him to put you out of joint (see Genesis 32:24–25). Don’t become a cripple by wrestling with the ways of God, but be someone who wrestles before God with the things of this world, because “we are more than conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37 ). Wrestling before God makes an impact in His kingdom. If you ask me to pray for you, and I am not complete in Christ, my prayer accomplishes nothing. But if I am complete in Christ, my prayer brings victory all the time. Prayer is effective only when there is completeness— “take up the whole armor of God….” Always make a distinction between God’s perfect will and His permissive will, which He uses to accomplish His divine purpose for our lives. God’s perfect will is unchangeable. It is with His permissive will, or the various things that He allows into our lives, that we must wrestle before Him. It is our reaction to these things allowed by His permissive will that enables us to come to the point of seeing His perfect will for us. “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God…” (Romans 8:28 )— to those who remain true to God’s perfect will— His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the testing He uses to reveal His true sons and daughters. We should not be spineless and automatically say, “Yes, it is the Lord’s will.” We don’t have to fight or wrestle with God, but we must wrestle before God with things. Beware of lazily giving up. Instead, put up a glorious fight and you will find yourself empowered with His strength. |
