The Grace of Wonder

In the book, The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, he references a prayer prayed by rabbi, Joshua Abraham Heschel:

"Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Suprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of your universe. Delight me to see how your Christ plays in ten thousand places, lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not His, to the Father through the features of men's faces. 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."

As I was finishing up chapter 5 this evening and read this prayer to close the chapter of Cormorants and kittiwakes, I know that God will do just this, He will show me His wonder.

This evening, as I was outside seeing my husband off to work, I looked up at the night sky and was blown away by the beauty above, and I suddenly felt so small. I could see so many stars in the cloudless sky. I know that God has placed me on this earth at this time for a reason, just like He has you. Yet, among the billions of people on this planet, He loves me and cares for me, just like He loves you. His love is so great that we only understand a fragment of His great love. If this is true, then why don't we trust Him? Why don't I trust Him like I should?

On Friday, during a morning class, my co-worker got onto a student who was squirming at his seat. She said, "Be still and quit moving around!" I then heard the Lord say, almost audibly, "BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!" I then felt such a peace come over me. It was all I could do to keep from crying. I hear God's still small voice often, but this was profound. It was like God was just saying, "Quiet yourself and trust in Me!" I felt His awesome love in that instance. I wasn't thinking about God at that moment, but was thinking about the noise in the room and wondering if it would subside. Isn't it neat how God will come to our situation, even when we aren't thinking about Him and get our attention? The thing is, He does this all of the time with the beauty around us, in the relationships that we have formed, in the many blessings that He has provided, and even in the beauty of the night sky after a very long and stressful day.

Lord, I want to share the wonder of it all.