I passed this Dr. Seuss-like contraption while headed to a meeting today. It made me wonder. And giggle. I mean - what in the world is this thing? What makes it go? What kind of "BOOM-clickity-clank-clank-BOOM-rattle-rattle" noise must it make when fired up? It made me wonder.It's strange, I think, what many of us would say when asked what we'd like more of. Plenty of us would decide that we could stand more money. More time. More things. More love. I don't know of anyone who would announce that they would appreciate more wonder in his or her life.
Unless, that is, you exclude me. I decided almost six months ago that I wanted more wonder in my life. Yes, wonder. I made a New Year's resolution, actually, to seek wonderment... to spend this next year of my life completely and utterly wonderstruck. Amazed. Awed.
Why? Well, life can grow stale. Despite new ventures, life just seemed ... stale. To quote Solomon, "everything seemed meaningless, a chasing after the wind". And then it dawned on me. My life wasn't ordinary. I had just forgotten the power of wonder.
I think we've educated and employed ourselves out of wonder. Think of the things that thrilled you as a kid. Things like... eating gummy worms. Staying up late. Wearing a Koolaid mustache. Climbing a tree. Getting a $5 bill. Waking on Christmas morning. Building a blanket fort. They were pretty ordinary things, really, but back then we had such a capacity for wonder. For amazement. For awe.... Where did that go?
I love the book of Job. Talk about a guy who had an excuse to lose his sense of wonder. After all, he'd lost everything else: his family, his home, his health - even his animals. I suppose that's why Job's friend, in chapter 37, reminded him:
God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; He does great things beyond our understanding.... Listen to this... stop and consider God's wonders.
There has to be something to that - to stopping and considering God's wonders. There has to be something to living a life that stands in awe of lightning. That wonders "how the clouds hang poised". That delights in the smell of fresh peaches. That giggles when they wonder how God could create someone humorous enough to invent such a thingamajig.... There has to be something to the consideration of God's marvelous ways. To the consideration of God's wonders.
Dare you to stop and consider. I dare you to wonder.
3 comments:
So true! I wonder if you are going to write a book or magazine soon. Any plans that way?
I'm wondering too! Why you're not writing, too, for a magazine or something. Hmmmm..... Your Aunt Mindy
Brin,
Have you found an answer to what that machine is? I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's an old corn sheller. I grew up on a farm in which my dad didn't use the latest equipment. He had a combine that picked the ears of corn but left the corn on it. He had a side business selling ear corn to squirrel lovers who would stick the ears on feeders for them. Anyway, to get the corn off the ears to sell, he had a corn sheller. It was newer than the one you have pictured, but I'm pretty sure it's the same kind of machine.
Thanks for the reminder to have more wonder.
Blessings,
Carrie
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