“Did you ever see a child staring into the boughs of a Christmas tree? We are wired to wonder. Designed to find ourselves in something greater than our own little lives. No one ever stood under the Northern Lights muttering ‘Wow, I’m incredible!’”

– Pete Grieg

The practice of wondering is an invitation to see past what is in sight and to take a moment to believe what could be beyond our understanding.

The story of Christ’s birth is filled with experiences beyond the imagination, beyond the status of the experiencer, beyond what the world was waiting for.

Think about the shepherds. Their profession often left them isolated with animals as companions. They must have had immense amounts of time to daydream, time for their minds to wander.

God knew they would be receptive. He knew they were the ones who needed to experience the angelic message and the invitation to visit the Christ child. He knew the shepherds would rejoice and regale the experience to all they came in contact with.

Will you allow wonder into this week leading up to Christmas? Will you open your heart and mind to Christ, who came to live and to die for us, the ordinary?

“I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.
For poor on’ry people like you and like I…
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.”

– John Jacob Niles, I Wonder as I Wander