natural wonder

Good thing no one relies on my blog posts or posted pictures for proof of my survival because so far this summer I've had one of the former and zero of the latter - any pics you see of me come from my friends' speedy postings; I probably won't get any up 'til the summer's end. But that's beside the point. 

I haven't been able to decide what to write about. Not because there's nothing going on but because it feels like everything's going on. So when I sit down at the computer to write something, my brain runs at a mile a minute and my fingers don't know how to sort through it all. But I've been feeling like I need to write something, not just for proof I'm alive and well, but to help myself make sense of thoughts and include whoever's interested in the process. Anyway...

One of my biggest joys in working at the ranch is spending time in the great outdoors and helping kids to unlock its wonders. Though most of the time they don't really need any help doing the unlocking; kids are professional wonder seekers. (Out of curiosity I wanted to know what Merriam-Webster had to say about wonder and here it is: rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's experience. Read that again; it's really good). 

If you let 'em, kids will find newness and mystery everywhere: in the color and shape of rocks, i what they think is a bear's paw print in the sand, and in throwing pieces of stale bread toward chipmunks and watching them scurry toward a free meal. Days are made when kids are given the chance to freely explore nature, to climb boulders that feel like mountains, and to yell at the top of their lungs and pause for the echo. 

But here's the thing: Wonder-full moments aren't always convenient or safe. In order to experience times of newness or awesome mysteriousness, we (and here I mainly mean adults; I already said kids were naturals at this) have to slow down and to look at what we may have seen a thousand times from the perspective of a first-timer. When looking at the stars or out at the distant mountain view, sometimes the only appropriate response is to stop and say, "Wow." But sometimes we're too busy to acknowledge it, and we miss that moment of wonder. 

Other times we're too afraid. We might get freaked out by the idea of climbing a mountain in the dark to watch the sun rise or to take a step of faith off of a zip line platform, but if we let fear get the best of us then we miss out on the experience of wonder at the top of that mountain or at the end of that zip line. As someone who used to be terrified of breaching my comfort zone, believe me when I say that overcoming your fears is always worth it. 

Whenever I spend time in nature, I can't help but be in awe. Of its beauty. Of its mystery. Of God for creating it. Each wonder-full moment that I experience, however inconvenient or unsafe it seemed at the time,    draws me closer to God. And it's for that reason that I love afternoons of sitting peacefully outside, listening to the rain fall and the birds chirp, and just worshiping God for it all. And it's the same reason why I love introducing kids to the wonders of nature - because it's my hope and prayer that, just as I've met God so many times through His Creation, that one day the same might happen for them.