Beholding

When it happens to me, I feel fully alive. A momentary shift of perspective, sometimes intentional, sometimes a surprise. Often it’s a spiritual experience—even supernatural. What am I talking about?

Wonder.

It can occur in the most ordinary ways…a robin building her nest in the eaves of our front porch…tiny beaks appearing, open and hungry…the process of learning to fly.

Or how about my little ten-month-old granddaughter, lifting one hand to greet me. She’s on the cusp of forming words. I wonder at the miracle of language and the nuances of tiny gestures.

As author Anthony Doerr said, sublimity (is) “the instant when one thing is about to become something else. Day to night, caterpillar to butterfly. Fawn to doe. Experiment to result. Boy to man.”[i]

When I watched Planet Earth, each episode inspired me to the point of worship. As it is written in Job, “Stand and consider the wonders of God. Do you know how God establishes them, and makes the lightning of His cloud to shine? Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, the wonders of one perfect in knowledge? Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, strong as a molten mirror? Out of the north comes golden splendor; around God is awesome majesty.”[ii]

I marvel at the historical formation of America. Bono of U2 put it this way…

“America is an idea, isn’t it? That’s how we see you around the world—as one of the greatest ideas in human history, right up there with the Renaissance, right up there with crop rotation, and the Beatles’ white album. The idea, the American idea—it’s an idea. You and me created equal. The idea that life is not meant to be endured, but enjoyed. The idea that if we have dignity, if we have justice, then leave it to us…we’ll do the rest. This country was the first to claw it’s way out of darkness and put that on paper. And God love you for it, because these aren’t just American ideas anymore. There’s no copyright on them. You brought them into the world. It’s a wide world now. These truths—your truths—they’re self evident in us.”[iii]

I wonder what the healing of races will look like.

J. Lee Grady gave me a glimpse when he wrote about spending a week in Durban, South Africa with a congregation called, His Church:

“The members come from all kinds of backgrounds: White Afrikaan believers, black Zulus, Indians, and immigrants from Congo, Malawi and Mozambique. When we gathered last Sunday, it was obvious that the intensity of these people’s love for each other was only surpassed by their passion for praising God. My eyes welled up with tears as I entered into worship that morning. I was witnessing a miracle. I had read enough about South Africa’s painful history to know that blacks, whites and Indians have not always loved each other like this…Now, the Holy Spirit has broken down those walls. I had to pinch myself to make sure this was not a dream.”

I wonder what heaven will be like.

Author Marilynne Robinson described the thought in her novel, Housekeeping. Her character saw “life as a road down which one traveled, an easy enough road through a broad country, and that one’s destination was there from the very beginning, a measured distance away, standing in the ordinary light like some plain house where one went in and was greeted by respectable people and was shown to a room where everything one had ever lost or put aside was gathered together, waiting.”

I ponder the truth that even though God is all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign Creator and ruler over all things—God is first and foremost a father. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are.” [iv]

I’d like to have moments of wonder continually. But is that even possible in a culture with cynical, tragic, everyday-in-your-face news? I don’t know. But I agree with pastor and author Bill Johnson when he said this:
“What you focus on—the kingdom you’re aware of—is what you release into the atmosphere around you. You’re actually influencing your surroundings by what’s going on inside. The world is filled with unbelief and sin and so many horrible things. The kingdom of God is filled with perfect trust and peace. You will always reflect the nature of the world you’re most aware of.”[v]

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[i] All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, page 245.

[ii] Job 37 (NASB)

[iii] Bono’s speech at Georgetown University

[iv] 1 John 3:1

[v] “Born For Revival,” Charisma, August 2016, by Jennifer LeClaire, pgs 20, 22.