Stand In Awe

Awe. Jaw-dropping. Breath-taking. Heart races, throat feels dry. 

You are besotted, speechless, and fearfully joyful

All at the same time.

So much in creation can cause such emotions to stir in us. Beautifully magnificent, gorgeously and meticulously crafted wonders of God’s world, that (should) stop us in our tracks and cause us to say with the Psalmist:

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”- Psalm 8:3-4

Dull Eyes

Sadly, over time our eyes become dull, and the fresh spring buds after a long winter don’t cause the worship of our Maker to well within us as it should. The things that should cause such stirrings are easily dismissed as “normal” or “meh I’ve seen that”. 

Not so for a child, the world is new and everything is amazing. 

I didn’t notice how dull my eyes had become until my children were toddler age and began to interact with creation around them. They were naturally observant and stood in awe of everything. I remember going hiking for the first time with our then one year old son. We loved hiking before we got pregnant but hadn’t gone since we’d become parents. We didn’t get very far because every step we took he would stop and bend down and play with rocks and dirt (we didn’t have one of those cool hiking carriers). It is a hilarious memory, but it also taught me something: this world is new to him, everything is new to him. Children are in awe of everything.

Teach Them To Stand In Awe

Don’t let them lose it. Don’t let their eyes become dull. Teach them to stand in awe and to keep on being in awe. God’s power as seen in creation is worthy of that awe-struck gleam in their eyes. You’ll soon find that their jaw-drop experiences are contagious. Maybe you’ll be like me, almost falling completely over as you read to your children that a grizzly is 8ft tall when standing (the same length of an eagle’s wingspan). Or that northern shrikes- cute little birds- are actually fearsome predators who make kabobs of their prey using sticks near their nests. Or even that an owl’s feathers are specifically designed-yes designed- to give it silent flight (meaning one could creep up on you if it wanted to and you would never hear it coming).

Shall I go on? Killer Whales (also known as the wolves of the sea) are the size of school buses. Hummingbird’s can flap their wings 50 times per second. The cowbird is known for odd behavior, she leaves her eggs in a foster nest. 

These aren’t just “fun animal facts” I found in a National Geographic magazine, they are things we learned about God’s amazing creation as we read books together, stood in awe together, and wondered at the mighty creative power of God together.  

Reading Genesis For The First Time

I did not grow up in a home where reading aloud was a priority, nor did I ever learn to marvel at creation. It did not happen until I was 17-years-old and I read Genesis 1:1 for the very first time. I was bored, up late, and had nothing else to do. I opened a bible and read the first verse. I was shocked! I had no idea that God created the world. From that point on, nothing was the same for me, I even found grass amazing! Grass, y’all, grass.

Everything in the world around me changed. I began to notice, really notice, for the first time the many different birds in the air, and the myriad of land animals that roamed alongside me. I began to gaze up at the bright blue Texas sky and wonder at its existence. While doing so, I also noticed the tiny drops of liquid that were in my eye, ever so slowly making their way down after each time I would blink. I was almost overwhelmed by everything around me that I had not even noticed until I read those 10 words “In the beginning…” 

Read Aloud

What does standing in awe of creation and reading aloud to your children have to do with one another? Everything mama. You may not live somewhere where burmese pythons are present but you sure can read about them. You may not know the difference between an alligator and a crocodile but you can read to find out together. Sure, you can google search it, but then you rob yourself of the joy of discovering the answers with your children by reading to and with them. I still say to my children often “let’s find a book about it” (unless they absolutely need an answer right there and then). The joy of discovery in a book is incomparable, please do not take it away from them. 

Go on these creation adventures with your children, and teach them to stand in awe along with you, as you discover more and more about God’s world together. 

A Different Approach To Science

When my saplings were small, I decided to forego a science curriculum intended for very young children. I took a peek at a few but decided that understanding photosynthesis or the latin names of plants just wasn’t necessary. I wanted curious, awe-struck kids running around my house with things they collected from outside:  June beetles crawling on their fingers, bean sprouts growing in the plastic cup by the porch, 3-inch snake skins hanging in a plastic bag on the observation board, etc. I also wanted nature journals to be a normal thing in our home, something everyone in the family had and daily fills. They can learn the terms later, for now I wanted a delight in the things God made to be formed in them.

To get to this goal I made a poster of the 6 days of creation and a little picture to go with each day. We would spend a month or two on each day (with days 5 and 6 getting even more time). I would go to the library and get as many books as I could find about each day. I kept them as long as the library would allow, and we read those books and made crafts. I repeated this year after year and now it is just so ingrained in us, we are just sort of doing it all the time. 

They are not the only ones getting an education, spending so much reading books along with them I am learning things I never knew before. The shared experiences and togetherness are irreplaceable. Education is not boring in our home, we have learned to stand in awe together. 

Happy Reading!