CULTIVATE WONDER

: the quality of exciting amazed admiration :

How are we cultivating wonder in our lives?

How are we laboring, caring for, and studying to improve the quality of exciting amazed admiration in our lives?

Doesn’t that sound amazing?

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Or have we lost our wonder?

I remember riding the bus home from elementary school.

It was a rainy day, and I watched the rain drops drizzle down my window.

I was blocking out the background chatter of a bus full of kids.

I was excited because my grandparents had arrived from New York.

As I approached our bus stop I looked out the window and decided that it wasn’t “cool” to feel excited, and I decided in that moment to suppress that feeling.

And to this day I rarely feel excitement.

What a weird vow to make as a 4th grader.

Cool?

What’s cool to an elementary school kid? Why at such a young age was I desiring to appear a certain so that I could impress OTHERS and in the process rob myself of joy?

>> What personal joy are you missing out on because you are more concerned about what other people think?

>> What quirky thing, that’s quintessentially YOU are you feeling ashamed of?

>> How many beautiful things are we missing out on because we’re afraid of what others might think?

Ugh, it’s so sad to me how many choices a day we make based on what we THINK other people will think of us. How inhibited we are because of fear of man.

>> Are we missing out on some of the gifts God created you to give to the world?

>> Is fear stealing your wonder?

>> Is bitterness and disappointment robbing your child likeness?

@drcarolineleaf says over and over again in her book.

::::: “We were created to be optimists.” :::::

If you’re not full of hope you’re living from the wrong Kingdom.

Figure out where your wonder went today, and all costs get it back.

May we never lose our wonder
Wide eyed and mystified
May we be just like a child
Staring at the beauty of our King
Wonder – Amanda Cook