Things Too Wonderful For Me to Know

Just this morning in Sarah Young’s, “Jesus Today” I read:

“You must leave room for mystery in your worldview--accepting 

the limitations of your understanding and knowledge.”

She finishes this thought by referring to Job:

“Though Job faltered at times during his excruciating ordeal, at the end of it he confessed, 'Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.' Likewise, I urge you to view matters you cannot understand as divine mysteries:  things too wonderful for you to know.”

This made me stop this morning. 

Something about that word “accept”. 

We are being jammed near full of things we are 

supposed to “accept” as deemed appropriate 

by society. 

Grown men and woman scream about it on TV every. single. day.

There is no leaving room for mystery in their worldview. 

They want to know it all so therefore they proclaim that they do.

Wouldn’t it be so much better for ALL OF US if they just said, 

“I don’t know,” 

every now and then?

It would be a heck of a lot quieter.

Our pastor is great at leading the congregation by example in the act of being in awe of God.

Not shock and awe.

Just awe.

By definition, awe means an overwhelming feeling of reverence and admiration produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful or the like.

To be in awe of God and His creation is a form of worship.

But we have to shut up long enough

and slow down long enough

to see it.

And when we do, we find 

God is all around us.

Just the other day Monte turned to me and said that he had caught sight of a pineapple at the store on his lunch break and he stopped to study it.

The prickly outer coating of it and its strong, pointed leaves.

He wondered how anyone could believe that a pineapple just BIG BANG BOOM appeared?

Only God could and can make a pineapple. 

No matter how much man tries and tries in a lab,

only God can make a pineapple.

Monte was sharing this awe moment with me as we were grocery shopping and I’d picked up a pineapple and put it in our cart.

When we were checking out, the young cashier saw our pineapple and started telling us that in the 1700 and 1800s that the pineapple was a powerful sign of wealth and prosperity. People would actually rent a pineapple to take to parties, making sure it was never cut open so that it could be safely returned for the evening.

Leave it to this fallen world we live in to distort one of God’s creations.

To take the awe of a pineapple and make it about the man 

who brought it rather than the Father who created it.

When Ellie was just preschool age, we were having breakfast at the table when this gorgeous sunrise came into view.

I was telling her how in heaven there will be colors that we’ve never seen here on earth. 

As she stared at the beautiful yellow, purple, pink, orange sky, she said,

“I think in heaven that color is Yerple.”

We just can’t wrap our brains around accepting 

that our understanding has limits.

And for all I know, it just might be called Yerple in heaven.

I’m not sure how this came up, 

seriously, following conversations Monte and I have would require a complicated road map and a securely fastened seat belt for all the twists and turns they take and the speed in which they are taken,

but Monte mentioned that someone had told him that they hated the beach.

HATED it.

 Monte grew up in south Florida and has a deep connection with the beach.

He longs to see the ocean if it has been too long just like my Midwestern body has a seasonal calendar.

And right now it is wondering why we 

can’t just get on with summer already?!

Anyway, Monte declared,

“People who don’t love the beach are emotionally constipated. Blocked. And only the ocean can clear it.”

I have to admit, I’m not feeling any hate looking at this.

While I could “Amen” that, I’m not sure it really ties in 

with my topic but I threw it in anyway.

Not to spoil any beautiful thoughts of warmth and sun and the beach,

(unless you are one of those beach haters and to that I want to apologize 

for Monte’s emotional constipation accusations)

but back in this intense winter that we had,

a beautiful phenomena happened called Snow Rollers.

A Snow Roller happens when conditions are just right for ice to be blown at high speeds on top of snow. As it blows on top of the snow, it picks up the snow and forms a roll.

Kinda like God making the beginnings 

of snow men all over the place.

Do you know that when people first started noticing the Snow Rollers, 

especially in huge open fields,

they wondered if aliens had created them?

Aliens.

And I thought it was silly to rent a perfectly good pineapple 

and NEVER EAT IT.

Monte snapped this photo from his car.

That goes to show that for some people,

the things that they can’t understand 

never lead them to awe or wonder

but fear.

One morning while walking the girls to school, we spotted a double rainbow.

I actually heard a few parents say,

“This is creepy! What does it mean?!”

Rather than enjoying the sight of something

 that some may never see in their lifetime.

Not a double rainbow, but a pretty bright one. 

One afternoon a few months ago, while sitting in the kitchen talking to the girls after school,

we heard the printer in the den print something.

It’s a loud, clunky thing.

We all looked at each other, knowing that NONE of us had printed anything.

We were sitting in the kitchen having a snack.

We found this in the printer tray:

My printer writes poetry???!!

Of course, I was already writing a children’s book in my head about "My Printer the Poet" when Ellie looked at it and said it was HER poem.

My printer STOLE Ellie’s poem??!!

I quickly revised the children’s book in my head to “My Printer the Poem Thief”.

Ellie explained she had written the poem in school just that afternoon.

She had sent it to the printer at school and somehow it made its way to our printer at home.

And printed hours after the original command.

I am not going to pretend to understand how that all worked but I think it was pretty awesome.

And it just might be in children’s bookstores coming soon.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

One morning as I was doing my bible study homework, I left the room and came back to find Nigel like this:

Yes, I know that Nigel was more than likely resting in the sun rather than resting in the word of my bible

but I can’t help but wonder…