Willingness, Wonder, Wisdom = Life

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

There are many ways to experience life, but not all life leads to life.

There are many ways we can choose to live life, but not every choice leads to life.

There are many ways to miss out on life, but missing out doesn’t mean we will always miss out.

Two states of life seem diametrically opposed and each of us chooses one or the other. We either see everything as a miracle or nothing as a miracle. The former way helps us to life, but the latter way takes us surely into an uninspiring cul-de-sac.

This is surely about sight, but not true physical sight. It’s spiritual sight we talk of.

Life in these ways—spiritual ways—is about willingness, wonder, and wisdom. Each of these three is successive in arrangement. We must have willingness to see the wonder, and we must experience wonder, continually, to know wisdom.

An Open Mind with Nothing to Lose

All we hope for in seeing people converted to Christ is that they would approach the subject with an open mind. And open minds have nothing to lose and plenty to gain.

With willingness we can see the wonder in all things, particularly the simple. And when we recognise that everything that is analysed is barely simple, we have awareness of and understand the enormous complexities in created things, not to mention the Creator that stands behind everything.

With willingness comes the invitation to wonder.

When we are willing to view things with an open mind, having dealt with all the resistance in our hearts, we do find the wonder in all things. And from this perspective we are able to approach wisdom.

This wisdom we speak of is really and truly the appropriate mark of respect for all things, because of their respective miraculousness.

When we come at life with an open mind and with nothing to lose, we cannot help but see God, and, in that, develop this wisdom that is from God for true sight.

It’s our prayer, having found this wisdom for seeing the wonder in the everyday thing, because we have been willing to approach life with an open mind, that others might do the same thing—and see what may be seen.

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An open mind with nothing to lose is willing to see what may be seen. Such a mind can see the miracles in everyday life; wonder everywhere. Such a thing is a gift from God and such a thing is truly the beginning of wisdom.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.