LIVING IN WONDER DEVOTIONAL
This devotional first appeared in the July, August, September 2013 issue of Words of Hope. It is reprinted with permission. (You can find others in the category Living in Wonder Moments on the right hand side of the Home page.)
Read: Genesis 1:1-31
And God saw everything he had made, and behold, it was very good (v. 31)
Everything begins with God. Here on the first page of the first book of the Bible, God is present, active, and in charge. As Eugene Peterson says in his introduction to Genesis in The Message, this is a story that starts and ends with God. It is “not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at center and circumference.”
This is the wonder of creation: that God is everywhere in it, handcrafting a world, speaking it into existence, making it ready for the crown of creation, and then beholding its goodness. When our sense of the wonder of creation dulls, God is elbowed into the margins. The sight of a plus meadow dotted with a riot of wildflowers becomes commonplace. The miracle of a galaxy dwindles to a scientific fact. The significance of a human life is coldly calculated, not supremely valued. The praise of Psalm 19 becomes the skepticism of Ecclesiastes 1.
We can train our souls to find wonder in all creation, but it takes intentionality. Today, count your blessings before you go to sleep and include in them whatever beauty you observed during the day. Practice sacramental living by finding God in every experience of the day. Read the creation story or a psalm. Most of all, base your life on the understand- ing that God is at the center and circumference of every moment. – Karen Bables
Prayer: Help me find the wonder in creation every day.
Living as Apprentices 
Travis, I remember that soapbox well now; too bad I didn’t remember it when I wrote the piece! I stand gratefully corrected! I’ll change it here, but I can’t do much about the Words of Hope publication. Too bad Adam didn’t notice – maybe you should can find a teachable moment for him. 🙂
This is great, Karen! I love the language of God at the center and circumference; good stuff as usual from Peterson. I have to say, though (because this is one of my soapboxes you heard about back in Training for Wonder) that God never “said” creation was good – he “saw” it and beheld its goodness! 🙂 There’s a big difference! Here’s to hoping we can train our eyes to see creation’s goodness as God does.