Don’t let me lose my wonder
There is a song on by Keith and Christine Getty’s simply entitled “Don’t let me lose my wonder.’
One of the great things about having grandchildren is that you get the opportunity to see things through the eyes of a child again. My youngest is totally amazed by bubbles if he could express it he would say ‘Awesome’ all those bubbles I blow are amazing, formed in perfect symmetrical spheres seemingly from nothing.
The problem with us adults is that we can lose this innate sense of beauty in the ordinary, this sense of wonder somewhere along the line – when we look at the world God has made whether it is the vastness of the ocean or the tiny but perfectly formed hand of a new born baby – we should say ‘wow’.
Paul Tripp develops this theme further in his book entitled ‘Awe’, subtitled ‘Why it matters in all we think, say and do.’
“God created an awesome world. God intentionally loaded the world with amazing things to leave you astounded. The carefully air-conditioned termite mound in Africa, the tart crunchiness of an apple, the explosion of thunder, the beauty of an orchid, the interdependent systems of the human body, the inexhaustible pounding of the ocean waves, and thousands of other created sights, sounds, touches, and tastes—God designed all to be awesome. And he intended you to be daily amazed.”
Tripp maintains that we are ‘hardwired for awe’ and a loss of a sense of awe underlies many of the problems we face as we substitute awe of God with something else in the creation. To quote the book again ‘Forgetting the awesome and glorious One who made it all and holds it all together by the sheer power of his magnificent will, will always insert me into the centre..… This viewpoint will guarantee me a life of huge disappointment. And not only that, it is also an insane way to live. Awe of self, worship of self, underlies every form of self-destructive living.”
With chapters on ministry, parenting and materialism I would highly recommend the book as a way of recapturing the sense of Awe of God in the way we live our daily lives.
One of the quotes from the book is from John Calvin. ‘There is not one little blade of grass, there is no colour in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice’.
Awesome!