February 2, 2009

Wonder

Someone is having a bad day and from the looks of the monument in the background, I think he was just hit with a big dose of reality and the wonderment that exists in childhood has been somewhat tarnished. This wonder is the stuff of imagination that enables us to soar above the doldrums of everyday life and greet every new day with excitement and expectation. Our dreams may or may not have foundation in reality, but they do make living worth while. When a dream dies, it is a sad thing, but usually something better takes its place. God does this for us in ways we really can not begin to comprehend because he knows us better than we know ourselves. Consider the following passage from the book of Psalms:

Psa 139:1 Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
Psa 139:2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
Psa 139:3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Psa 139:4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
Psa 139:5 You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
Psa 139:6 This knowledge is beyond me. It's lofty. I can't attain it.
Psa 139:7 Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
Psa 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
Psa 139:9 If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psa 139:10 Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.
Psa 139:11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night;"
Psa 139:12 even the darkness doesn't hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
Psa 139:13 For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb.
Psa 139:14 I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
Psa 139:15 My frame wasn't hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.
Psa 139:16 Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.
Psa 139:17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Psa 139:18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

The World English Bible

The boy may be crying now, but once he stops, I hope he can dream once again, and let his spirit be uplifted by the complex simplicity of the glory of life, which unfolds into wonder. As I understand it, a life worth living begins by searching for the creator of all things and ends with finding all things in him; now, that is truly wonderful!