Our grandson, Henry, has found his first words.\u00a0 (Actually, he is working on others now as well.)\u00a0 But the first ones were, \u201cOh, Wow!\u201d\u00a0 And they are almost always accompanied by a little hand pointing at something \u2014 the picture of sheer delight and wonder.\u00a0 The experience of watching him respond to the world around him has reminded me of some important truths:<\/p>\n
All too often the journey into adulthood is one of accumulating cynicism.\u00a0 The \u201cOh, Wow!\u201d moments of delight and wonder give way to \u201cOh, Sure\u201d moments of weary and wary distrust. \u00a0But the loss of delight and wonder is not a measure of sophistication.<\/p>\n
A capacity for wonder is directly related to our ability to remain open, pliable, imaginative, and teachable. \u00a0An \u201cOh, Wow\u201d moment can lead to discovery and growth.\u00a0 An \u201cOh, sure\u201d mindset knows everything it needs to know, forecloses on fresh insights, and judges the world from a single, suspicious point of view.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, Wow\u201d moments also open us to the endless wonders that are an experience of God and God\u2019s creation.\u00a0 We live on the endless frontier that is the experience of One greater than us, where there is always something new to learn and experience.\u00a0 Wonder is at the heart of that experience, the engine of worship.\u00a0 Cynicism reduces the world to a place of dry mechanics.<\/p>\n
Henry\u2019s first words have also reminded me of this: Not all wisdom comes with the passage of time.\u00a0 It is not the exclusive (or inevitable) gift of aging.\u00a0 And there are times when the wisest thing we can do is to embrace the lessons a child has to teach us.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our grandson, Henry, has found his first words.\u00a0 (Actually, he is working on others now as well.)\u00a0 But the first ones were, \u201cOh, Wow!\u201d\u00a0 And they are almost always accompanied by a little hand pointing at something \u2014 the picture of sheer delight and wonder.\u00a0 The experience of watching him respond to the world around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-perspectives"],"yoast_head":"\n