Towards Childlike Wonder

Towards Childlike Wonder

Towards Childlike Wonder
The Bible is full of miracles and advice to stay alert for God’s wonders:

Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;
    be alert for signs of his presence.
(Psalm 105:4, MSG)

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. (Romans 12:11, MSG)

We are children of an awesome and almighty God and we are called to pray boldly and expect great things. Why don’t we then do that? Why don’t we live victoriously if we have such a wonderful God? Why don’t we trust without reservation? Why do we settle for less than God’s will for us? Probably for the same reasons the disciples didn’t let children come to Jesus.

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on themand pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:13-14, CEB)

Margaret Feinberg poignantly writes in her new book Wonderstruck: “The story stands as a potent reminder of the importance of humility and trust, as well as a personal wake-up call that all too often I’m far more like the disciples than the children. I fail to enter into God’s kingdom. Distracted by efficiency and effectiveness, I lose out on what the children enjoyed that day— simply being with Jesus, delighting in his presence, and humbly asking him to pray for me. Maybe the best place to rediscover the kingdom of God is bouncing on Jesus’ knee. For me, praying for pixie dust was an expression of childlike receptivity. More than anything, I wanted Jesus to catch me up in his arms and twirl me in the air.”

YES! Childlike wonder is necessary for staying alert for God. Otherwise we fail to enter into God’s kingdom. We lose our capacity to see God at work around us. We don’t truly believe in the power of prayer anymore.

But we don’t have to settle for less than God’s will for us. God is ready to embrace us with his abundant grace. God is ready to move in our lives. Wonderstruck living is only a prayer away.

“Petitioning for pixie dust removes any sense of “praying it safe.” Asking God to unleash his mercy and grace and goodness and love is like boldly looking into the eyes of God and saying, “Surprise me!” The wonder is that he does, if we have eyes to see.”

Are you ready to give God permission to arrange your life in a new way? Are you ready to move towards childlike wonder? Are you ready to claim all the promises of God? Then let us pray:

 

Gracious God,
Pour out buckets of pixie dust!
Open our eyes to see you
and your presence in our lives.
Surprise us with your grace!
Lavish us with your loving-kindness!
Make us truly wonderstruck!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Do you play it safe? Or are you ready to let God surprise you?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you dare to trust God fully and pray for divine pixie dust!

Image courtesy of Margaret Feinberg. Linking up today with Thought-Provoking Thursday and Faith-Filled Friday.

6 thoughts on “Towards Childlike Wonder

    1. Joan, I know God has a multitude of surprises He has been waiting to show you–so thrilled you are on this journey with us!

  1. “But we don’t have to settle for less than God’s will for us”–so true! May we all pray for buckets of pixie dust and never settle for anything less than God’s will!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RSS
Follow by Email