Wonder and Awe

There's a lovely, poignant poem written over a century ago by a poet named Elizabeth Allen titled "Rock Me to Sleep" (read whole poem) that begins:

"Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight,
Make me a child again just for to-night!"

I feel that kind of emotion at this season. Christmas has so many blessings to enjoy, including the wonderful music and decorations and foods and traditions. But there's a special joy in observing the eyes of a child gazing on a Christmas tree, or a display of lights, or opening presents, or even better, watching them share a reenactment of the sacred story of this season. Much of the wonder and joy of Christmas for me has always been to feel the simple happiness of children and be blessed by it.

I'm now in that awkward season of life when my own children are too old to fill that role, and I don't yet have grandchildren to bless my life. So I am seeking in new ways to claim the wonder and awe of the season.

"Wonder and awe" – I love those words. In one of our familiar carols, we sing of the "wondering awe" that wise men must have felt to see the prophesied signs in the heavens. The scriptures don't actually tell us the wise men felt that – only that they saw the sign and came to inquire. We can imagine how it must have touched their hearts. When the star led them to the manger, they "rejoiced with exceeding great joy" (Matt 2:10). Certainly the shepherds in the fields felt strong emotion; at first, they were "sore afraid" (which is not the same as wonder and awe) but as they heard and understood the message of the heavenly choir, I think their feelings turned quickly to "wonder and awe" and they eagerly ran to seek the baby in Bethlehem.

We can imagine the wonder and awe that must have filled the hearts of a very young father and mother, caring for that baby in the stable, knowing of the mission He would fill. I remember gazing down at my own newborn children and being overwhelmed by the wonder of their existence; how much more Mary and Joseph must have felt the wonder of God's love.

What has happened to wonder and awe in our time? In a way, even the meaning of the words has changed. In too many cases, wonder is equated with doubt and uncertainty. Awe is more astonishment than reverence. Our youth speak of things being "awesome" in a very different way than the scriptural meaning we're talking about.

Even more of a concern – instead of "wonder and awe" we now see "shock and awe" in our days. This phrase has been adopted by the military in the last decade as a formal designator of a type of military campaign in which the attacking force tries to demonstrate such power and superiority and destructiveness in a short time, so that the enemy is terrified into submission. The world would have us feel awe for temporal power, for strength and destruction; but God would have us feel awe for the gentle presence of a little baby.

Years ago I studied the writings of a great Jewish rabbi named Abraham Joshua Heschel. He talked in beautiful terms of the sense of wonder that we should feel in considering our relationship to God and his love for us. Here is an example:

"Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine. ... to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe."

Albert Einstein said it this way:

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

Wonder and awe is the sentiment we express when we sing, "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me." Or, "Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee – how great thou art!" It's the feeling of deepest gratitude for grace and forgiveness, of indebtedness for gifts we can never repay (Mosiah 2:23ff). It's the true spirit of Christmas, the wonder and awe for the birth and life and love of Jesus of Bethlehem!