You and I Are Never Too Old for Wonder: How to See With New Eyes
Too Old for This Sh*t: How to Take Your Life Back from an Ageist Society
Recapture the gift of wonder: it’s a choice
Dear Reader, a reminder that as of January 1st I will be going to paid. Some articles will be free but not as many. I know there is much competition for your time and attention. If you get value, kindly consider paying a pittance for my work. Thank you.
Please read this from
and kindly let it sink in:Out walking my dog, Willa, this morning, I ran into my neighbor on his way to the gym. We know each other lightly, say hi, trade a joke, that sort of knowing.
We fell into teasing each other about what we were wearing — him in shorts in 30 degrees, and me in threadbare sweats that look a little like pants Peter Pan would wear.
We paused at the corner and somehow it came up I’ve really been struggling since the election.
I watched him stop and become really present. He crouched down to pet Willa. “I volunteer teaching physics to college kids. I want to show them how much wonder there is all around them that they might not see.”
“I was just thinking yesterday how I need a wonder infusion.”
He asked if he could hug me and we exchanged a really good hug.
I walked away suffused with wonder. Someone barely knowing (sic) taking the time to listen and connect.
Wishing you human (sic) love and lots of wonder in this time of darkness and light. (author bolded)
What’s a “blessing?”
That question came up with a friend today who, during a walk with another pal was told by said pal that “blessings” were exclusively limited to financial.
I nearly choked on my coffee.
How stunted have we become, that we relate any and every thing to its financial value, and limited any and all blessings to whether or not they fatten our bank accounts?
Back in the Eighties, during the New Age era, the abundance lie of Christianity was taking deep hold- the same money cult that infects many Trump followers- that God ONLY blesses those s/he truly loves with money.
That lie is so pervasive, so sick, but it’s long had a hold on our culture. In our blame-the-victim society, we can assume that if someone is homeless or poor or worse it’s their fault, but if they’re filthy rich, they somehow deserved it.
I struggle with that line of thinking but that’s just me.
It’s not much of a leap to make the (fake Horatio Alger) association that God ONLY blesses those who are worthy with great wads of riches. If you’re curious please see this article in Christian Ethics Today and explore further on your own.
Joel Osteen makes excessive truckloads of cash in ways that make me ill, and has a terrible time sharing it when people in his community are hit hard by disaster. He’s just one of many symptoms of how we have lost our way when the only way forward we see is lining our pockets by robbing others.
We have robbed ourselves of wonder when we put a price tag on every single thing, which is where we are. Too many of us possess no skills to see the wonders that walk among us every day, including every living being, which is a universe of wonder in and of itself.
Every new bloom, every flight of flamingos, every bright dawn, each new breath we take can be utterly filled with wonder. When we shut ourselves down to awe, we are the walking dead.
Wonder, beauty, grace surround us. It is how we choose to see, choose to perceive. Learning to perceive differently, through the eyes of gratitude, is a blessing.
The ability to perceive differently is the greatest possible blessing: one person sees lack, the other sees possibility. That’s not luck, it’s not stupid. It’s also not being blind to the darkness that is indeed there. It’s a great personal power. To choose to see through different eyes.
That is how we are blessed with wonder.
Without wonder we can’t push back darkness. The role of darkness, I would strenuously argue, is to invite us to see what is and always was there: incredible beauty.
My friend Melissa and I have both traveled far and wide. I’ve spent time with Myanmar village people so poor that their only source of protein is the lowly peanut. They had so little water that no child had ever been bathed in that village. Yet they were generous and grateful, and full of wonder about their world.
Who is poor, indeed? We who cannot see, or those who can see and who aren’t distracted by wealth?
My Jewish friends, and I am blessed with many, are lucky to have some magnificent writers. Some of their prayers cut right to the heart of the human condition. Here is a fine example, that Melissa and I revisited today:
Days pass and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles. Lord, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing; let there be moments when Your Presence, like lightning, illumines the darkness in which we walk. Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns unconsumed. And we, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness, and exclaim in wonder: How filled with awe is this place, and we did not know it! (author bolded)
-- From the Mishkan T’filah, “A Prayer for Shabbat”
May you see the wonder and beauty that surrounds all of us all the time. When we see that, we live. When we celebrate the beauty in ourselves, we give that beauty wings.
Everywhere we walk is sacred ground.
Being consumed by despair is part of life. The way out of it is to choose to see the wonder that surrounds all of us. Yes of course it’s hard. That’s why it’s called the high road. Not many choose to walk it.
Let’s not be sightless among miracles. No, it’s not too late. No, you and I are Never Too Old to be gifted with wonder, awe, and gratitude.
Those who do, are touched by awe. That is what lights the way in the darkness.
Thank you as always for your time and attention. Please have a wonderful start to your new year and kindly consider
Above all, see what’s always been there, right in front of us, worthy of wonder.
I came across this quote today that made me think of you Julia, and happens to align well with this wonderful post and your ethos:
“The chief prevention to getting old is to remain astonished.”
—Kevin Kelly
Ah, yes. Joel Osteen. What a miserable human being. During our last great hurricane, Harvey, we really saw the soul of several of our notable Houstonians. Jim McIngvale, known as Mattress Mack, threw open the doors of his huge furniture stores so people who had to leave their homes during the floods had a place to stay with functioning bathrooms, beds to sleep on, furniture to sit on, electricity and air conditioning. I have no idea what it cost him to let people live on his brand new furniture inventory for a couple of weeks. Someone pointed out that Joel Osteen hadn't done anything to help Houstonians even though his mega church can seat nearly 17,000 people for each service and has bathrooms etc. Osteen scrambled for a reason - he couldn't find the keys, the streets were flooded, etc., etc., etc. Yeah. A significant number of streets were flooded but the roads to his mega church were open.