on Wonder

     So I’ve had the meat of this post done for quite a while now. Just needed to dedicate some time to writing this intro, and what better reason to check out the Kaladis by my apartment that I’ve never been to. Nothing like an Americano to get you motivated. I wrote this poem around the time I wrote “Humble Me”, but I felt it needed a proper background.
     My inspiration for this poem came one night in the late Fall while floating on my back in the hot tub, almost completely submerged, looking up at the stars. It is so easy to take for granted what God has created, but all you have to do is take a step out your door (especially in Alaska) to see the beauty. It took me all of about one second to get completely lost in the scenery, and soon became frustrated trying to wrap my mind around it all. I could see God’s handiwork clearly illustrated but wanted instant revelation on life’s deepest questions.
     Insight came a few weeks later when I started reading through Blue Like Jazz. I was already getting all sorts of questions answered that I thought only I was asking. Then I came to the chapter titled “Worship” and what the author, Donald Miller, calls “The Mystical Wonder.” He explains that because God is so much greater than us there are some things the human mind can never fully understand, nor do we need to. Don’s answer is simple enough, just breathe in the wonder of God and let your heart enter into worship. The simple fact that I don’t need to know all the answers has helped me immensely. I would encourage each of you to find something that makes you wonder, and praise God for it. For Don it was making it a point to catch the sunsets over the summer. For me it is skiing until I want to collapse and taking in the grandeur of God’s landscape. I will leave you with this excerpt from Don’s chapter on Worship, “Wonder is that feeling we get when we let go of our silly answers, our mapped out rules that we want God to follow. I don’t think there is any better worship than wonder.”

Wonder

When I look up to the heavens

I can’t fathom how You created it all in a single breath

When I get lost in the beauty

I have naught to do but worship Your Majesty

I know this world is not my home

I want to be in it, not of it

But how can I love You

If I don’t love what You’ve made?

I enjoy Your creation

And love to revel in it

But I won’t rob You of Your Glory

Or allow it to stray my vision

I worship the Creator not creation

The sand on the shore, stars in the sky

Innumerable, I couldn’t count them if I tried

This makes me feel You’re on a scale too grand

Out of my grasp, something I’ll never understand

For only You can comprehend eternity

And just how much You love me

I forget that You knew me before I was

That the hairs on my head, You know every one

It all points to Your Name

Science wishes it could explain

But only one thing I need to know

That I’ve been purchased by the blood

The only reason I can be called Your Son