The Eclipse Effect (04/10/2024)

Monday, I watched on tv the shots of the eclipse from around the country and listened to the comments of people who had witnessed it. Awe and wonder filled the hours as men and women took in the amazing sight. And I wondered to myself how many minds and hearts were opened just a bit more to reality that there is a God behind all this we call life.

Did you witness the eclipse? Was it a partial or total eclipse where you were? Did you see the aura? Did the creator enter your mind as you witnessed this phenomenon? Was there a sense of wonder? Of Awe? Did the LORD use that moment to stir anew within you?

The familiar song ran through my head that day, time after time:

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;I

see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art. [1]

At the heart of our spiritual life is a sense of wonder. Recall that Jesus used a child to tell his disciples and followers the needs for our spiritual journey: I tell you this truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). We usually read the passage as a call to humility, which it is, but that humility opens the door to wonder and awe.

I love time spent with children, and while I know that most often I am sent to be their “teacher,” I treasure the lessons they teach me. I love to watch them explore their world and allow creation to open their minds and hearts. Their wonder and awe is rightful. How I wish we didn’t lose that sense of wonder as we age.

I learned a long time ago about the need for “wonder” in our lives, our prayers. And it has been part of my prayer daily since then. My family used to kid me about my prayer routine. They call it my “sip and stare.” I am sure to the unknowing witness, that is what it is. But to a trained eye, one sees a daughter of the Creator taking in the wonders of an all-knowing, all-loving, all-present, and all-powerful LORD manifested in my presence.

We come to love the LORD, our creator, by seeing, by hearing, by touching, by experiencing that which is because of our LORD. And as we do, we can’t help but be humbled. Who are we that the all-powerful LORD cares about us? Clearly, the LORD’s ways are not human ways. And in awe, our minds and hearts are tenderized.

And it is this tenderized self that is most receptive to the wonder of Jesus Christ. Again, I can hear the lyrics of “How Great Thou Art:”

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

As we continue on our journeys in faith, buoyed by the hope of our LORD’s promise, and fueled by love, let us take time to look up, to listen, to experience the LORD’s creation around us  and within us. Let us open ourselves more wholly and truly to the wonder and awe that comes to those who are always and everywhere making the connection between what is and source of all that is – our LORD.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.

[1] “How Great Thou Art” lyrics originally written by Carl Gustav Boberg and translated by Stuart K. Hine