"So let the wonder take you into space..."

"...So let the wonder
take you into space
And lay you under
its loving embrace
Just feel the thunder
as it warms your face
You can't hold back...

Just let your love flow
like a mountain stream
And let your love grow
With the smallest of dreams
and let your love show
And you'll know what I mean,
it's the season
Let your love fly
like a bird on the wing
And let your love bind
you to all living things
And let your love shine
And you'll know what I mean,
that's the reason..."
- Bellamy Brothers
"Let Your Love Flow"

Have you ever thought about "wonder" taking you into a space where love embraces you?  I hadn't, but when I heard the Bellamy Brothers' song, "Let Your Love Flow" recently, it was that verse that really resonated with me.  I have been living in a space of wonder lately. 

The definition of "wonder" I love is: "a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable." And this is where I am trying to live, to exist, to abide.  In a space of divine wonder.  To be surprised by God and His love for creation.  Tonight's surprise came when four year old Travis, joined us in saying the Lord's Prayer during church and his sweet, passionate, "forever" at the end took my breath away.  "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory...forever." 

I wish you could have heard the pure trust and innocent confidence in his voice.  If I could have just sat silently letting its sound echo through the room and through to the core of my being for the rest of the hour it would have been heavenly.  Something about it reached like a tuning fork into my heart and set it right again.

Wonder is a space of openness, hunger, and expectancy.  It trusts that around every corner it a divine surprise.

Years ago I had a friend who was, for me, a genuine spiritual mentor.  Whenever I would call him because I was in crisis or facing a personal challenge, he would start by saying, "Wonderful!!"  Because I knew that his heart was filled with an unflappable certainty that I was the loved and blessed child of God, I reveled in this response.  In fact, it made me happy and peaceful. I knew it reflected his own wonder.  A wonder that filled him with childlike joy and expectation, and he wished that same wonder for me.

Each time I heard his, "Wonderful!!" my entire being relaxed into a space of hope and faith, trust and certainty in God's hand in my life and the universe.

Tonight, wherever you are, whatever you are facing, I send a prayer that your life is filled with wonder.  I pray that childlike wonder carves its space in your heart and that you are surprised by how God fills it with extraordinary goodness.
Kate
Kate Robertson, CS

"Turn around...turn around..."

"Where are you going my little one, little one
Where are you going my baby my own
Turn around and you're two,
Turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of my door..."

Sniff...sniff, sigh….oh my gosh... it is way too soon…

Today is the first day of school…again.  It is happening far too fast these days. I want to slow down the calendar, the clock, the seasons…whatever it takes to hold them right here...at ten.  I like ten.  Ten was my favorite age to be, to teach, and to dream out from.  I love the kinds of conversations the girls and I can have right now.  I love that we can talk about feelings, choices, abstract concepts…like appreciation and affection…and love.

I love that all conversations about boys include a facial expression somewhat akin to how they look when they eat plain yogurt with wheat germ…a silent, "not too disgusting, but certainly not my choice unless I would starve without it in the wilderness…"  The other kinds of conversations about boys will come later...but for now these "looks" are perfect.  Tolerant...but not giggly.

I love that they took responsibility for their own reading lists this summer and that they know more about how to re-configure a network connection on my computer, than I do.  I love that they still call me their favorite "snugglebuddy" at bedtime (including the snuggling) and yet are able to make their own PB&J sandwich for lunch.

I love everything about being their mom…except how quickly it is all going. 

But I know...don't I...that progress is a law of God…and I love every law of God…so in reality I must realize my love for their progress…even if it makes them taller than me in the next few months. 

And progress, being a law of God includes innocence, purity, grace and childlike wonder.  I must remember...no adults of God – just children.  But, oh my goodness...as Paul Simon sings,

"These are the days of miracles and wonders"

I think the "miracle" is just that we get to do it…this extraordinary thing called life and motherhood and fatherhood and sharing space with eachother in this moment of eternity.  And the wonder…oh my goodness, the wonder is in every second, every moment that I feel God's mercy in giving me "a second chance"…a billion times a day…to do it better…to be more childlike (myself…through their example), to be more patient (with myself as I rush blindly around trying to keep everything "on task") to be more filled with…yes, wonder.

So…as we drove into school this morning and Emma read the first part of our Bible study readings aloud to Clara and I in the car (like I said it's happening way too fast) I couldn't help but think that, like Simeon who was recorded in the Chapter of Luke as having "waited for the consolation of Israel", we too can see progress as innocence, as a childlike purity, an infant hope…in ourselves and others…no matter how many first days of school we have experienced….as students, parents, teachers, administrators, counselors, lawmakers.

The sun has already taken on that golden light of "back to school"…I don't know what this year holds for each of us…but I know it will be good…progress is a law of God.  I'm counting on it.  I'm counting on it to keep us all filled with the wonder of being ten…or seventeen, or thirty-two, or fifty-three.  Counting on it...as we walk out the door in brand  new shoes and with freshly sharpened pencils, 200 sheets of lined notebook paper and a clean three-ring binder under our arms ready to innocently (and expectantly) greet the Christ-child being born in our world each day…in the classroom, on the floor of the Senate, in a shelter in Baghdad, or as we sit at a traffic light during rush hour.

"…Turn around (turn around)
Turn around (turn around)
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of the door…"
- Harry Bellafonte

have a great day...and be sure to eat all your lunch,
Kate