Live with wonder and awe

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The end of anxiety and despair”

Our Bible verse for today: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.” Psalm 19:1-2 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Live with wonder and awe”

So much about the quality of our lives depends on attitude and perspective. We’ve been over this. We’ve thought about optimism verses pessimism, the glass half-full or half-empty. We’ve considered the importance of shifting our focus from ourselves to God and to others. And we’ve talked about living life large by opening your heart and letting the world in. So much about the quality of our lives depends on the way we choose to see the world around us and the attitude we choose to have about it.

That includes living with wonder and awe. I’m talking about intentionally and habitually seeing, embracing, enjoying, and celebrating the wonders and joys of this amazing world God has created. That’s what the Psalmist was referring to in Psalm 19:1-2 (above). The heavens themselves declare the glory of God. It’s all around us.

Brennan Manning tells the deathbed story of the famous Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. As he was dying, some of his final words were to his friend Sam who was standing at his bedside. “Sam, I feel only gratitude for my life, for every moment I have lived. I am ready to go. I have seen so many miracles during my lifetime … Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame, I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.”

Rabbi Heschel chose to see the goodness, the wonder, and the joy all around him, and he centered his life around that perspective. Manning followed that story with this statement, “A Philistine (a crude person) will stand before a Claude Monet painting and pick his nose; a person filled with wonder will stand there fighting back the tears.” The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote something similar when she observed, “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 and pluck blackberries.”

I encourage you to live with wonder and awe. The glory and majesty of God is all around you, but you must choose to see it. You’re not likely to experience anxiety and despair while you’re appreciating and enjoying the wonder, majesty, and awesome glory of God.

God bless,
Pastor Jim