Finding Awe

The most beautiful thing
we can experience is the
mysterious. It is the source
of all true art and science.

-ALBERT EINSTEIN

In these days of cacophony, 

unplug, walk outside. 

Catch the scent of frosted air,

 the play of dappled sunshine.

See the stunning beauty 

of nature. Feel the cool

 autumnal air ease

the constrictions of your 

worries, your cares,

 your responsibilities.

Let nature be the bridge 

to a world of sublime beauty,

 your world.

Share a moment with a friend.

Delight in your place in the 

universe.

Allow your ego to shrink, 

your 

imagination to expand.

Mathew 13: 3- 9

Then he told them many things in parables, saying:“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

I've often read this passage without humility thinking about all the ways I'm the good soil. This past week, our Sunday School teacher, Cathy Young, urged us to read this passage in a new way.

“Where is the soil in your own soul hard, rocky, shallow?” Cathy asked. 

 Wow. 

I instantly felt humbled. Because I knew exactly where I'm hard. Exactly where my heart is like a rock. The precise circumstances in which I am shallow or catty or mean.

And then I wandered out into nature and saw all the ways that God uses the circumstances of life, the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows to split our rocky hard hearts.

 God uses daily life to split us open, soften us, work us into the good soil which can accept all circumstances without trying to change them or others. So we learn to love unconditionally, starting with accepting those hard, rocky, thin-soiled places in our own souls.

So that we can say with joy and honesty:

All is well

Get outside Wonder Ones, enjoy God's creation, especially the creation that is you!