Yet we drink them all in without a shred of wonder or an ounce of awe. We are bored. How poignantly G.K. Chesterton assesses our condition:
We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.
Consider with me just for a moment the sky. One day it's grey and cloudless, the next it's deep blue and crowded with puffy whites. Then it's black. Then it's red. Then it's pink. Then it's yellow. Then it's orange. Then it's navy flecked with silver stars.
The sky is cloudless. Then there are millions of clouds. Then they drop rain, billions of pellets of water. From the sky. Though really, this was actually condensation from the earth that was somehow sucked up into the clouds which hung onto it until they got too heavy and dumped it back on the earth.
When it gets cold, it snows. Every snowflake is unique. Right now trillions of snowflakes are outside my house. There is a nine foot snow bank facing my front door. Every snowflake in that bank is different.
Wondrous.
What about the mechanics of the human body? The playfulness of our pets? The taste of food? God didn't have to make food taste so good. We didn't have to have taste buds. But He created them, and He gave them to us for sheer pleasure - to bring the glory back to Him. For good food.
Wondrous.
Look around your house. Look closely at whatever technological device you're reading this on. Computer, smart phone, tablet, iPod - how amazingly inventive this technology is. How gratitude should flow out of us for a fridge or a microwave. How blessed we are for the people God has used to create. Looking around my living room alone I am awed by not one but three laptops, a beautiful Heintzman piano, a cat perch, an electric fireplace, a coffee table, two coffee mugs, books, a phone, a rocking chair, three electric lamps, picture frames, fake plants. and speakers.
Wondrous.
Daily we are surrounded by wonders. Pine trees and sunsets, running cars and coffee, pillows and thunderstorms, hand cream and chicken nuggets - don't waste them. Take a moment to truly wonder at God's glorious creativity and the marvelous, intricate world of beauty He has created.
It is wondrous.