Lingering in Wonder

I think deliberately seeking to discover how creation works is a prayer. It is honoring God so much that you desire to look more closely at the gifts He bothered so much to send you.

It’s a sign of the delicacy of love that we dwell a while on the smallest beauty. We shouldn’t open a gift, throw aside the tissue paper and say a brief “huh” before greedily reaching for the next present as we might see a spoiled child do. We must turn it over in our hands, murmur a bit of excitement, voice our joy, and lay it carefully on the table with a lingering pleasure. Savoring is part of our romance with God.

I didn’t know or even ask why leaves changed in the autumn when I was young. Don’t know why I never wanted to know. Perhaps being a city dweller I wasn’t very attuned to the natural changes around me.

Admittedly, I was 40 when I found out! I was one step ahead of my six year old at the time as we learned about natural history. He was the one who taught me the fine art of savoring. His questions were myriad and contagious. Ah, the power of the child spirit on the dulled and perhaps (legitimately so) weary hearts of their somewhat distracted-by-many-things mothers. My children really did teach me to wonder. I thank them.

This simple, wonderful book kindled the romance, so to speak. The Green Kingdom” - part of a set of books called Childcraft. We could not afford an expensive science program at the time. I found this at a book fair for maybe a $1.00. It is fantastic. It has diagrams, appropriate poetry for each chapter, and writing that treats you and your child like intelligent beings. I can kind of get lost in it once I start reading. This basic, homemade science program made me start looking closer at the natural world and asking more questions. I found myself truly “surprised by joy” at this simplest of natural phenomenons.

So, in case YOU were wondering why leaves change color in the fall and want to know before the age of 40, here is the answer!

The coolest thing is that the other colors are always there. We just don’t see them because chlorophyll’s green dominates in spring and summer. Fancy that? Oh the spiritual metaphors I will spare you that are swimming through my head right now!!

I also found, that if you photograph fall leaves in the shade they go a different tint on you. Deeper and more rich - like the colors on Russian Easter eggs.

I guess you could say “They who keenly observe, pray twice”.