FRESH THYME
Wonder Spaces
by Marcy Lytle
We took the kids this summer to a place in our city by the name of the same title I’m using above…Wonder Spaces. It’s an immersive art display in a big building that visitors walk through, touch, observe, listen, feel, etc. When the walk is over, every sense has been touched by the wonder of the art displayed. We walked through hundreds of hanging lights that turned different colors to music. We stood by a huge wall and moved. As we did, paint in vivid colors spread across the wall in the same way our bodies moved! And there was another wall with little tiny tubes full of notes people had written, with blank ones left to write. As visitors placed them in the holes, the wall became a work of art.
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Room after room we entered and were amazed at the creativity, and we all enjoyed this building full of wonder.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the name of this experience and I thought about how over time, over the years and decades, we tend to lose our sense of wonder. At an early age, kids marvel and wonder at every little thing in life. A piece of crumpled paper might make them burst out into laughter. But when we find such a piece of paper we toss it in the trash, annoyed it was on the floor. Toddlers love to watch heavy equipment, and will sit and wonder at the workers as they dig holes or move dirt or pick up trash. It’s fascinating. And we adults can’t wait for the equipment to move, be gone, away…so we can get down the road.
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I want to wonder at life again, at every little beauty and oddity and color and sound. I thought of ways and experiences that I could stoke this sense as I walk through the “wonder spaces” of life. I hope you’ll make your own list, or consider mine:
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I want to observe the sun when I’m leaving the house or returning home, no matter the time of day, and wonder at the faithfulness of the One who sets it and gives it time and space each day.
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I want to sit down to eat my dinner and wonder at the flavors that meld together in that dish the restaurant prepared and how amazing it is that I live where food is readily there, for the eating and the enjoying.
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I want to observe those leaves in the trees waving and falling to the ground as this season prepares and ushers in the next season, when the trees are bare. And I want to wonder at the cycle of life and how it ebbs and flows, even when I think the fallen leaves mean life is over.
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I want to read the Word, the very breath of God spoken to me and for me, and marvel at the personal truth and growth and healing that comes from knowing the character of the One who made me. I want my breath to be taken away by the love of his heart for mine.
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I want to see people, as I sit on a park bench, shop in a mall, dine at a restaurant, and wonder at the way we’re all so wonderfully made different…and yet same…and be amazed and tell these folks of the love of Christ.
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I want to wonder and fall to my knees at the grace extended to me and mine to know God, the Maker of the universe, the One that sent his son…and I want that wonder and thanksgiving from my heart for salvation to be at the top of my thankful list this season.
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I want to enter His “wonder spaces” and experience the light, the sounds, the colors and the textures of 24 hours a day that move from early morning darkness to full blown light and back to darkness once again, because today is a wonder…
Isn’t it?
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What wonder spaces do you want to experience once again, that perhaps have gotten lost in the madness of the world, and slipped away because of busyness and pain and disappointment? You’re welcome to join me as we wonder…together…at the love of God that spills over into every movement of our days we have on earth.