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A father tells his two girls he has planned a family vacation to Grand Canyon.
\u2014 The older girl wanted to know the \u201cwhen,\u201d the \u201cwhere,\u201d and the \u201chow long.\u201d
\u2014The youngest was just excited to go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which girl exhibited loving trust and a childlike waiting in wonder?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which girl would probably have most blessed her father\u2019s heart and caused him to smile?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our definition of \u201cgrowing up\u201d and thinking we are smarter is not maturity at all from the perspective of God\u2019s kingdom! Consider the psalmist\u2019s decision to reduce his life to childlikeness in this sweet, short, and simple psalm:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Psalms 131 Amplified Bible \u2013 A Song of Ascents. Of David<\/em>\nLord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting]. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.<\/pre>\n\n\n\nPaul says this about the \u201cwait of wonder\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV<\/em>\nBut as it is written: \u201cEye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.<\/pre>\n\n\n\nIn this passage, Paul is actually quoting from Isaiah 64:4. Interestingly, the Holy Spirit changed up (which He has the right to do since He knows the Father\u2019s heart and authored the Scriptures!) one of the keywords in this passage. Instead of \u201cthose who love Him,\u201d<\/em> Isaiah has it as \u201cthe one who waits<\/strong> for Him.\u201d<\/em> Wow! That is a beautiful revelation in itself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Love waits in wonder!<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
And consider what Jesus says about one essential requirement necessary to \u201center the Kingdom\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew 18:3-4 Amplified Bible<\/em>\nAnd said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all]. Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.<\/pre>\n\n\n\nSome years ago, while I was still in ministry training, a missionary-pastor always reminded us of how important it was to always be children in our relationship with Jesus no matter how old we get. This was his favorite expression:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNever lose the awe and wonder of it all.\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Those words have challenged me ever since. Oh, to be childlike in all we think and do! If something or some situation is \u201cun-figure-out-able,\u201d not only will we be \u201cokay\u201d with that, but we will, in childlikeness, choose to stand back, wait, and enjoy the wonder of it all, knowing and believing that our Heavenly Father understands everything. This is the way to love life and enjoy each moment in a way that puts a smile on our Heavenly Father\u2019s face!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nIn the father\u2019s arms and enjoying every moment of it! <\/em><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Heavenly Father, forgive me for losing the \u201cawe and wonder of it all.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> It\u2019s all my fault. Things get so complicated and tangled up in my struggle to put my life in neatly organized folders, bins, and boxes, and I am guilty of assuming I could figure You out, too. However, life doesn\u2019t work that way, and neither do You. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Father, I choose to cast all my cares upon You and to put all my worries to rest, knowing that You know what is best for me. Like the psalmist, I will \u201cbehave and quiet myself as a child that is weaned of his mother.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus, You said that we must become like little children in order to enter into the Kingdom purpose and life for which You have called us. Oh Lord, please reduce me to childlikeness! Forgive me for exercising myself \u201cin great matters\u2026in things too high for me\u201d<\/em> \u2013 thinking I can figure it all out. Your Word informs me that such complexities are nothing more than just another distraction strategy coming directly from the enemy of my soul:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 Corinthians 11:2-3 NASB\n\u2026for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.\nBut I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.<\/pre>\n\n\n\nTherefore, I choose to let You take care of all the \u201cfiguring\u201d so I can focus on the \u201csimplicity and purity of devotion\u201d<\/em><\/strong> to You, my Savior and Lover of my soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holy Spirit, fill me and let Your power flow throughout my being. Soften the oldness and callousness of my heart with Your oil and new wine. Let me be a \u201cnew wineskin\u201d (Luke 5:36-39)<\/em> to \u201cwalk in newness of life\u201d (Rom 6:4)<\/em> as a \u201cnew creation\u201d<\/em> \u2013 a life in which \u201call things are becoming new\u201d (2 Cor 5:17)<\/em>. I choose to purposely seize each new day and declare, \u201cThis is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it\u201d (Psalm 118:24)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O Father, I long to live in the spontaneity of childlike trust, accepting everything as from Your loving hand \u2013 living by the precious faith which alone can please You (Heb 11:6)<\/em>. I choose to enjoy the \u201cawe and wonder\u201d of each moment in a way which puts a smile upon Your face and also upon mine!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Jesus\u2019 Name,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Learning to Wait in Wonder [Versi\u00f3n en espa\u00f1ol: Aprender Esperar en Asombro y Maravilla ] A father tells his two girls he has planned a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[459,49,114,460,193,223,232,239],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional","tag-awe-and-wonder","tag-childlikeness","tag-humility","tag-newness-of-life","tag-simplicity","tag-trust","tag-waiting","tag-wonder"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/2010-01-08_Lydia-Grace-Poses_18.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8ofw-iD","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3028,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions\/3028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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