THE GRACE OF WONDER

God's Creation at Pinchot Park - off of Lakeside Trail

Today I recalled memories of a retreat that I attended with author Brennan Manning 11 years ago. Although he died 9 years ago, he is not forgotten. I am reading one of his books again, and love this story....

Story from this book

"Several years before his death, a remarkable rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, suffered a near fatal heart attack. His closest friend was at his bedside. Heschel was so weak he was only able to whisper, "Sam, I feel only gratitude for my life, for every moment I have lived. I am ready to go." The old rabbi was exhausted by his effort to speak. After a long pause, he said, "Sam, 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. 

Brennen writes, "A Philistine will stand before a Claude Monet painting and pick his nose; a person filled with wonder will stand there fighting back the tears. By and large, our world has lost its sense of wonder. We have grown up. We no longer catch our breath at the sight of a rainbow or the scent of a rose, as we once did. We no longer run our fingers through water, no longer make faces at the moon. Water is H2O, the stars have been classified, and the moon is not made of green cheese. Thanks to jet planes, we can visit places available in the past only to a guy like Columbus. 

There was a time in the not too distant past when a thunderstorm caused grown men to shudder and feel small. But God has been edged out of His world by science. Small wonder Rabbi Heschel concluded, "As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines."

Our world is saturated with grace, and the lurking presence of God is revealed not only in spirit but in matter - in a deer leaping across a meadow, in the flight of an eagle, in fire and water, in a rainbow after a summer storm, and in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. God intended for us to discover His loving presence in the world around us.

We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground. 

Let us ask God for the gift He gave to an unforgettable rabbi, Joshua Abraham Heschel. "Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of Your universe. Each day enrapture me with Your marvelous things without number." 

"I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all."

A Word from Brennan