Friday, September 3, 2010

God of wonder

Abbey loves flowers.
 
In fact, it is almost impossible for us to keep flowers on the plants in our flowerboxes (notice the naked middle plant)

I love to watch her with her flowers

In fact you can see the wonder as she regards her posies

She asked me, after picking these flowers, "Who makes flowers?"

I told her that God did.

She sweetly replied, "That was sooo nice of Jesus, wasn't it?"

I thought about Abbey and her flowers and general outlook on life as I read my latest devotion from the  book, Primal, A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity, by Mark Batterson. He talks about worshiping God as the God of wonder.
He states, "One of the great mistakes we've made in modern Christianity is approaching God deductively as an object of knowledge instead of approaching Him inductively as the cause of wonder."

Guilty as charged! I yearn so much to learn about God, when all I need to do is look at his creation, which will lead me to worship him. 

"God is more than factual. He is wonderful. The mind is educated with facts, but the soul is educated with beauty and mystery. And the curriculum is creation"

How many of God's wondrous miracles do I take for granted, or just pass by as normal? The birth of my kids? The adoption of my kids? The way they all learn to speak and be the cute little (and big) people that they are? The fact that the sun comes up every morning and goes down every night?  How God provides for us? How the seasons change? I could go on and on.

But most of the time, I sit and let the miraculous just fade into the normal. I don't stop to think of the depth of my God and the extreme wonder of his creation and his care of me. 

I was appropiately chastised when I read:
"We are in the presence of God, but we are unaware of it. We are surrounded by the glory of God but can't see it."

Mark quotes Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

"'Earth's crammed with heaven, 
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck the blackberries.'"

I want to be one that takes off my shoes. I want to recognize the absolute glory and amazing wonder of my God.

So, I'm going to try to be a little more like Abbey. I'm going to look for everyday miracles which will lead me to worship God and thank him for all his astonishing ways.


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2 comments:

  1. I love this post, Glenda! Every bit is so true. If all of us could only see the world through the eyes of a child...God's miracles surround us every second of every day. Children aren't yet hampered by the stress of responsibility so they can truly appreciate the glory of a flower or the joy of a rustling breeze..As adults, we just need to get off the merry-go-round, sit quietly and appreciate... :-)

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  2. I too am thankful for the "wonder seekers" in my life. From time to time they influence me to stop and smell the roses...

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