I need awe and wonder in my life. I need to have the sense that there is something out there greater than me, something more important, something more valuable, something more beautiful. I think the need to be awed and to wonder begins at an early age.
My two sons Will and Andrew each love to pretend. They love to play. They grab toy cars, trucks, and airplanes and take take them to places unimaginable. Couches become mountains. Chairs become landing pads for airplanes. Window sills become racing tracks. Each is an attempt to wonder and use their imagination.
It also doesn't take much to make them awestruck. A quick trip to the zoo will show them animals never before imagined. They wonder how the monkey could swing from the trees, how polar bears can swim, how dolphins are capable of jumping into the air from out of the water, or how giraffes could ever be so tall.
However, as we grow older we lose our sense of awe. We no longer are impressed with simply things. So, we look for new ones. We see the world from a moutain top, we imagine the deepness of the ocean, or the vastness of outer space. Our need to be in awe and to wonder is in grained within us. We each have a deep desire to experience something which "takes our breath away."
One of the saddest results of our Postmodern world is when a person loses their sense of wonder and awe. The theory of Evolution teaches that all complex forms of life evolved from simpler forms. If this is true, and that's all there is to it, what a letdown. For some reason, such an explanation is unsatisfying to me. It seems too simple. I have a desire to wonder, to dream, to obtain a sense of awe when confronted with something greater.
Donald Miller, in his book "Blue Like Jazz" explains that wonder is the greatest form of worship. When we stand in awe of God, we marvel at who He is and the great things He has done. I need that. I think we all do.
Let's make an effort to examine that which presents us with a sense of wonder. Let's examine the attributes of an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-encompassing God who has chosen to reveal who He is and what He is capable of doing in such as a way as to make us "awestruck".
Joshua
