Wonder

Recently I read that, on his death bed, Abraham Joshua Heschel expressed humble gratitude for his full life and said that he never prayed for anything but a spirit of wonder. What an inspiration! It reminded me of another friend who was so full of wonder that on her way to her classroom one day, she was found on the sidewalk, on her knees, touching the blades of grass, each one of which had its own little drop of dew atop its small height! She knelt inwardly as well. She told me that, besides being gifted with moisture for its thirst, that small dewdrop reflected the shining sun and, therefore, formed hundreds of tiny rainbows for her delight.

Now not everyone is like Heschel or my friend, but is it not true that life is ever more vibrant when we see a lovely surprise in the ordinary? And that someone, like Heschel and my friend, can awaken a sense of wonder in us because they mirrored a lover with eyes wide open? We too, can stop, look and listen to such attractive, ordinary stoplights! Without a sense of wonder, things and even more so, persons become and feel invisible!

If it takes a lover with eyes wide open to even see what is there, what will you see today? Will you teach yourself to stop at the ever so present stoplights around you by praying for the gift of wonder? Or perhaps keeping a list of your own daily moment of wonder and being grateful for having received it?

Renée Domeier, OSB

Photo: Raindrops on a flower. Photo taken by Sister Carleen Schomer.