May 14thAwesome Wonder
- by Ingrid Loepp Thiessen
Recently while flying from Winnipeg to Toronto, I found myself seated in front of two young children and their mom. The children had clearly never been on an airplane. They were full of questions: “When will it go up?” And they squealed with delight when the airplane did go up. “Are we in a cloud?” “What’s that down there?” “Where did the cloud go?” They chattered loudly about all the incredible things they were experiencing, a play by play of air travel from the uninitiated. It was delightful. I found myself smiling about their deep wonder and delight.
I grew up learning that one shouldn’t make too much of a fuss about things. It was best to stay even. In some ways this meant that things were always just fine or ok, with a decided lack of enthusiasm attached to them. Yet Jesus invites us out of the safe space of even, neutral, ok, and into boldness, wonder, abundance and awe. In the resurrection accounts Jesus appears behind a locked door in John 20. The disciples are scared to death! And then Jesus speaks and breathes peace all over them, twice. Fear turned to awe! A catch of 153 fish in John 21. A huge number that is intended to make an impact. We read it for the first time with wonder and utter a “Wow!" And Peter, fishing, searching for the purpose of his life, so aware of his mistakes, and then redeemed and invited to leadership, a wondrous unexpected moment, Wow! So much more than he ever could have thought.
“we need a daily dose of vitamin awe…with vitamin awe everything pops open and becomes alive again.”
As followers of Jesus we are invited to more: more joy, more wonder, more sharing, more compassion, more understanding. It’s an invitation to abundance. As a long-term care home chaplain, this topic of abundance comes up again and again. In discussion groups we often talk about the need for Vitamin Awe. I first learned about this in the book called Dancing with Elephants: Mindfulness Training for those living with dementia, chronic illness or an aging brain by Jarem Sawatsky. Quoting John Paul Lederach the author says “we need a daily dose of vitamin awe…with vitamin awe everything pops open and becomes alive again.” P160-161. Vitamin Awe is one tool for dealing with chronic illness, aging and loss. So, in the long-term care home setting we search for Awe. We ask “What is breathtaking today, what is wondrous, what makes us say Wow!” This is different than gratitude, it is basking in the awesome wonder about the goodnesses around us, about unexpected graces, about unfathomable peace, with the outcome being some perspective shaping amidst our difficulties.
I’m trying to remember to get some Vitamin Awe and enjoy some moments of awesome wonder. “Wow God, what amazing resilience I see in that person”. I’m trying to look for simple wonders and name them, “Wow God, the old cherry tree is budding again!” I’m trying to release compassion by wondering about the other, “Wow, I never thought about it that way, I will try and understand.” And at church I’m wondering “Wow, what is the calling here, in this year, in this province, in this country, at this time?” Like a child flying for the first time I want to see and embrace the world around me with abundant wonder and awe as Jesus invites us to.
-Ingrid Loepp Thiessen is an MCEC pastor and chaplain at Sunnyside Home