Wonder

I'm up super early today, in need of the silence of early morning.

This simple collage, combining just a few pictures from magazines,

is one that I made in my freedom journal, with the thought of being

FREE TO WONDER.

It's based on a Bible verse which says, "Let all the earth be silent..."

and the picture of the child intently studying the blade of grass

has been in my collage collection for almost a decade.

The same day that I made this collage

was the same day that I went on an outing

to nourish my artist spirit

by taking photographs at a couple local, natural places.

It was New Year's Eve Day of 2011,

and unseasonably warm for mid-winter.

(That outing will be shared in another post soon.)

It was the same day that, when I came home from my outing,

and wrote about it at the kitchen table,

my family was watching Rainbow Brite on YouTube,

and I caught the end of the episode,

in which a voice is telling Rainbow that she will have to

fight to keep the wonder alive because the world

will want to make the colors dark and dim.

Yesterday it snowed, and I needed to sit down

to take a breakfrom the busyness of the day. 

I began collecting thoughts and pictures for this post

as the snow fell silently outside,

a stark contrast to the atmosphere of our home's interior.

Snow brings me peace, and my thoughts always turn

to Snowflake Bentley who dedicated his life

to the study of snowflakes. 

Because he followed wonder,

we know of the individual beauty of each flake,

and we have books about

the secret life of snowflakes

and websites, like this one,

all about snow crystals. 

Now I think of The Life Artist too,

who loves snow and writes beautifully of its majesty.

And I look out at powder puffs on pine needles.

Narnia was on the evening prior to the outing I mentioned,

and the day I made the collage pictured at the top of the page,

and the occurrence of catching the tail end

of that Rainbow Brite episode. 

I am always transported when it comes to Narnia,

having grown up on those stories,

traveling there in my imagination.

Lucy's character captures me

with her raw sense of wonder and possibility. 

She doesn't doubt what could be.

Recently I splurged on a special pre-order package by my favorite singer-songwriter, Sara Groves.  The offer included the ability to download her newest CD, Invisible Empires, as well as receive the CD in the mail with a signed album insert,  a t-shirt, and an extra CD with commentary by Sara and her husband Troy.  The $25 spent was more than worth it.  It is wonderful to find artists who are able to speak to your spirit, can put into words (or music, or images) the thoughts you are thinking, and Sara Groves does this for me.  This new album was beyond extraordinary for me,  and listening to the commentary brought it to another level. 

Here's the video for her song, Precious Again:

"So much to wonder, oh what a wonder"

On the commentary, Sara talks about how she got the lines

"garnets and rubies ground up in the sand"

from a science exhibit about amazing sand. 

When I heard that, sparks lit up inside of me,

for I had just recently been discovering this,

and was making connections

between grains of sand and snowflakes,

seemingly tiny and plain, yet when studied closely

are unique, special, amazing creations

of God's hands.

And I believe that it is up to me

to keep the wonder alive here in this life,

like Rainbow Brite is encouraged to do. 

And it's up to you, too.

Let's do it.