“We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.” G.K. Chesterton~
One year between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I had the blessing of being sick. Good timing. After Christmas. When there’s time for not doing much.
One day: A granddaughter was sick along with me. Two bad cases of winter yuck: coughing and head stuff. We each claimed a couch and a blanket. Since she is the other Rod Serling fan in the family, I put in a DVD of Twilight Zone episodes. Black and white images flickered in the glow of a wood fire and a lit Christmas tree.
We found a twilight of wonder with Serling voicing over our dreams.
The next day: Still sick, but in solitude, I wanted to stitch away some time. To finish restoring a quilt. If I finished it (and applied some Lysol), two granddaughters could dream underneath it for our then-annual New Year’s overnight.
As I sewed, I searched for some background diversion. Flipping channels, I found two-inch deep television. I settled on Netflix and discovered The Little Prince.
It’s a story within a story. An eccentric neighbor relates the story of The Little Prince to a young girl. Her life is consumed with the essentials of preparing for adulthood, her mother having mapped out every waking moment. No time for dreaming. No time for wonder. Only enterprise, but without the vision of wonder.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish,” Proverbs 29:18.
The neighbor shows the girl the stars. Beyond them, she sees what is truly essential—what the neighbor himself has already learned from the little prince.
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
When we find wonder—the invisible that shapes our souls—we learn the essence of who we are. And that essence speaks in everything we do.
We learn that the world can be full of patient wonder. And patience is not found in a thirty-minute sitcom that resolves a superficial crisis.
Wonder takes us deeper than two inches. It teaches us to endure. And endurance pays off with a prize.
The prince: “Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
Patience is, of course, a virtue. And wonder will always teach us virtue. C.S. Lewis shows us what happens when we lack vision and thereby lack wonder: “We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise.”
Without wonder, we have only empty enterprise. We have no virtue and no vision.
On the first night of the New Year, two young girls and I settled down with a bowl of popcorn and The Little Prince. Then they dreamed under the completed quilt.
Soon enough they will be grown-ups, at times consumed with the essentials of everyday living, but the prince reminds us that,
“All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.”
May we count ourselves among the few who remember—because only those who remember that wonder comes from God can participate in it with Him.
Nancy, thanks so much for sharing this. We are always trying (often unsuccessfully) to find good movies.
When I was a theater major in college, I was in a small production of “The Little Prince.” (I played a rose.😏) This will bring back some memories for sure. ♥️
Enjoy, Ann. Thanks for reading and commenting. God bless!
I pray my heart will always be open to enjoy the wonders of the Lord. Have a blessed day! 🙂
May we all embrace the wonder of God. My grandson recently preached a message on the importance of imagination and wonder. So importamt. Thanks, Melissa. God bless!
You remind me of an essay I once wrote which I entitled “Place of Wonder.” The wonder I experienced came as I simply sat in a beautiful place on a lake and did nothing but observe and think. The wonders are all around us, if we will pause long enough to notice.
That pausing long enough is the key. Life can be so overwhelming unless we take time. Thanks, Annie. God bless and merry Christmas!
Thank you for addressing the need for wonder within each of our lives. How often do we get bogged down by the mundane, rather than pausing to see the beauty of God’s creation all around us. We need to seek to see the unseen.
We do, indeed, Melinda. Wonder helps us enjoy imagination, but more importantly it helps our minds conceive of God’s glory! God bless and merry Christmas!
With the holidays, I spent some time remembering special times in my life. I was filled with wonder as I thought about the incredible things God has provided for me through the years. I am blessed. Thanks Nancy
We are more blessed than we take time to realize sometimes. Thanks, Yvonne. God bless and happy New Year.
Oh, how I remember the wonder of childhood. And as I grow older and grow in Christ, I’m thankful true wonder comes from the God of wonder. Why do we hesitate to dream big with God? Because He’s the biggest dreamer of all! Beautiful, Nancy!
Wonder is important for children and grown-ups. It’s just harder for grown-ups to see sometimes. Thanks, Karen. God bless. And keep dreaming big with Him.
So convicting, Nancy. We MUST make time for wonder, visions and dreams. This is all important!
It is more important than we realize, Jessica. Children need wonder as do adults. Thanks and God bless!
So much love about this post Ms. Nancy. Investing in those coming behind us is a way to build a lasting legacy. I’m certain those two will long cherish the memories made over this holiday. God’s blessings ma’am.
Thank you, JD. They’re high school students now, and we still work on making memories. God bless you and yours too!
“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.” And I love the glory of wonder.
So true, Debbie. Thanks and God bless!