• Home
  • My Story
  • Bookish
  • Christian Teaching
  • Thoughts
  • Food For Thought
  • Kim Chronicles
Lilies from Heaven

Awaking Wonder

9/10/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
I love books. Really good books that can change the way you think, the way you do things. And this is one of those books!

​It is no secret that I love Sally Clarkson. She and her husband were pioneers of the homeschooling movement and have published a number of great books that keep my kids busy. I did have a favorite. It was The Life-Giving Table. It was my favorite until Awaking Wonder came out last month. 

Awaking Wonder is a memoir of sorts. It's Sally's memories of her time with her children. It is full of great stories on how she awoke wonder in each of them. 

It has a great start and I will lay it out for you:

"Memorable and momentous occasions rarely announce themselves ahead of time, but tiptoe quietly into the corners of lives and yet leave a profound influence. So this particular evening stands out to all of us as sort of mysteriously sacred shared events that shaped a deep part of our souls.

In the late evening just after sunset, chill mountain breezes of a summer night twirled around us, and I shivered involuntarily. Thousands of stars shone above like diamonds of a velvet cloak and beckoned us to stop, to enter into their reality.

Tonight we should sleep out under the stars, I thought. I had not seem such a cloudless, clear view of the night skies in a very long time. 

When I announced my plan, excitement burst forth through squeals, jumping up and down, smiles that lit up the room. Making plans and giving orders, I bustled about, dragging sleeping bags and pillows onto our deck. At 7 300 feet in elevation, our little rustic home was tucked at the foot of the towering Colorado Rockies, bordering 25 000 acres of national forest.

We were surrounded by the long, dark shadows of the trees waltzing to a mountain song, and the pine forest, whistled as the breeze gently moved branches back and forth. We found ourselves invited to a dramatic performance by an infinite array of stars twinkling across our night sky.

Here, away from the lights of the city, the whole world of sky sparkled with movement and flashes as though elegantly parading in the heavens, in sync with the pine trees. We considered that we had box seats and were audience to the angels rollicking, swirling in the light, moving to the rhythm of the swaying branches, just for our pleasure. Our magical night world was awash with mystery and whimsy.

Four-year-old Joy plopped into my lap as I eased onto our old wooden bench. Her brother, Joel, twelve, and Nathan, ten, ran wildly up and down our deck, yelling, punching, giggling, and point to a shooting star here and the Milky Way there.

Clay, my husband, turned up the soft acoustic music from inside the home so that a symphony of haunting melodies accompanied this transcendent evening of delight. The night sky darkened and marked the time for us to cuddle for warmth in a pile under the sleeping bags. We all lay flat on the creaky deck, looking into the showcase of myriad glimmering lights. In this auditorium of splendor, we all marveled. An almost sacred hush fell over us and gave us calm and peace to our previously distracted souls.

Sarah, at fifteen, was wrapped in a warm quilt. Hidden in a dark corner, she watched the beauty in the same comfort of her private imaginations.

All of us were wonder-struck at the infinite stars, the sky chandelier shimmering, the vastness seemed to quell any small worries or issues that had troubled us before, and we breathed release and felt peace. Each of use were caught in our own 'mind castles', where feelings and thoughts danced through our wonderings, elegantly, freely, in celebration of the grace of our moments.

The six of us were invisibly joined together as the threads of our hearts were woven through the unspoken sharing. As we sat in reverie of the grandeur, we were enveloped with the sen of an artist greater than us, and with an awareness of the small but hidden in our Creator's magnificence. Merely to be in the vastness of such a display of power and beauty all at once to witness sublime reality beyond our comprehension.

We were captured in the wonder of it all, together" (p. 12-13)

This is her description of wonder, amazement, and glory. 

There are other gems in the book. Here are a few to whet your appetite.

"Every child is a miracle. Every single one. Each is born as a seedbed of potential for loving, thinking, creating, giving, working, and so much more" (p. 28).

"Make it a goal to give your child an environment in which they can be curious about ideas, stories, and people" (p. 36).

"The second goal was to provide my children a foundation of unconditional love and deep acceptance for them as human beings with unique personalities, drives, skills, and abilities" (p. 37).

"I desired that our children not be confined to a reductive faith that was based merely on moralism, rules of behavior, pedantic philosophy. Instead, I wanted to embody an authentic faith in a personal God, the artist, the lover, the holy one - one beyond our ability to quantity. I wanted them to grow up in the oxygen of His reality embodied through all the moments of our lives" (p. 38).

She speaks of mentoring and how to do it. She speaks of forming faith through imagination and wonder. She speaks of how to grow faith. She speaks of pursuing treasures of knowledge to fill a mind. 

Pick up this book because it is a treasure. It is a treasure of knowledge that should be shared with the world. 
 
 

0 Comments

    Author

    Storyteller, 
    Glory Seeker,
    Grace Dweller,
    ​English Teacher.

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    September 2016
    April 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    February 2014
    October 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Adder
    Advent
    Advent Art
    Advent Poetry
    Adventure
    Aesceticism
    Africa
    Agency
    Aging
    Alligators
    American South
    Anne Bogel
    Apples
    Art
    Artful Reading
    Asia
    Barn
    Beautiful Bride
    Beauty
    Beauty From Brokenness
    Being Different
    Bells
    Benefits Of Reading
    Bethlehem
    Betrayal
    Birds
    Birth Of Christ
    Birth Of Jesus
    Blessings
    Book-of-luke
    Bread
    Brokenness And Blessing
    Cat
    Charles Williams
    Childhood
    Christian Beauty
    Christianity
    Christian Living
    Christmas
    Christmas Narrative
    Christmas Poetry
    Classic Novels
    Colds
    Community
    Compassion
    Creation
    Creativity
    Cross
    C.S. Lewis
    Dandelion
    Deaconess
    Deliciousness
    Easter
    E.B. White
    Empathy
    Fact
    Faith
    Fall/autumn
    Fellowship
    Firenship
    Food
    God's Unconditional Heart
    Gospel
    Grace
    Grace Upon Grace
    Gratitude
    Great Storytelling
    Grooving
    Growing Older
    Happiness
    Healing
    Holy Week
    Homecoming
    Hope
    Hospitality
    Humility
    Imagination
    Jesus
    Job
    John Wesley
    Joy
    J.R.R. Tolkien
    Kingfisher
    Korean
    Lent
    Life Lessons
    Light
    Linda Sue Park
    Little Boys
    Lost Boys Of Sudan
    Lost Words
    Love
    Malcolm Guite
    Mary
    Mathematics
    Memoir
    Mermaid Child
    Mission Of The Church
    Mr. Putter And Tabby
    Multiculturalism
    Music
    Mystery
    Nazarene Church
    Night
    One Thousand Gifts
    Peace
    Pears
    Perseverance
    Pete The Cat
    Picture Books
    Poetry
    Positive Attitude
    Practical Theology
    Prayer
    Problem Of Pain
    Problem Solving
    Quest
    Reading
    Reading Aloud
    Reading Life
    Refugee Issues
    Responsible Grace
    Salvation
    Savior Prince
    Screen Time
    Simple Living
    Slingshot
    Snow
    Song-writing
    Spirit
    Stories
    Sudan
    Suffering
    Tennyson
    Theology
    Trees
    Truth
    Virginity
    Waiting
    Water
    Weeping
    Wesleyan Holiness
    Widow
    Wine
    Winter
    Woldweller
    Women
    Women In Leadership
    Wood
    Word
    Woundedness
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly