Reflection
The perception of the world as a manifestation of God, with everything as beautiful or good in itself, enables us to experience the world with grateful admiration, to live in fascination, to feel peace and ultimately to be at one with ourselves and all else. We seem to have lost the capacity to be awestruck because we forget that we are but small beings in an evolving universe vaster than we can imagine. Our horizons become limited and the flow of life rooted in the living God is taken for granted. Gifted with life and all else that is, we need to renew our awareness and recapture the wonder of walking on holy ground.
Prayer
May we recapture the awe and wonder of childhood when everything seemed new and “wonder-full”.
Action
Today try to notice and appreciate the wonderful in the ordinary.
Suggested Reading
The beginning of wisdom is awe in the Lord and knowledge
of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9: 10-12
Mankind will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.
John Milton
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
Albert Einstein
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
Buddha
If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.
Rachel Carson
Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes – The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Unknowingly, we plow the dust of stars, blown about us by the wind, and drink the universe in a glass of rain.
Ihab Hassan