I will never tire of hearing,

“Look, Marmee, a butterfly!”

My grandchildren, Vivie and Emmett, shriek with joy when one flies close or lands nearby. Their curiosity intensifies in the presence of this fanciful winged being, and their wonder sparks! And you know what? You don’t need to be a child to love these illusive creatures. Butterflies have been captivating and entertaining us from the dawn of God’s magnificent and mind-boggling creation. They are beautiful and magical living things, flitting freely from blossom to blossom, alluring us into an “anything is possible” kind of make-believe world for a few moments.

Not too long ago while at the botanical garden in our neighborhood, a butterfly landed on the open blossom, as big as a plate, of a bright red hibiscus plant.

The kids gasped in unison, wonder-struck by the insect’s sudden proximity. Then I asked them to do something hard—to be still and silent while I leaned over to grasp the butterfly’s fragile and powdery wings between my thumb and index fingers. I then lifted the magical creature from the flower and brought it close for them to see face-to-face—that is insect face to human face.

They gasped again and fell backward.

I chuckled inside at their dramatic reaction—the wonder of being so close and Marmee holding a butterfly by the wings! Yes, the sheer wonder of it!

Then I asked if they wanted to take a turn holding the butterfly or allowing its legs to cling to their fingers or palm. “No, let it go!” they screeched. I actually think they were more empathetic to the fact that the butterfly had been captured against its will then afraid to touch the butterfly. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

This little happening at the park imprinted butterflies on their hearts indelibly. After that, they routinely inquired about the genesis of these flying beauties and asked to watch YouTube videos of caterpillars, cocoons, butterflies, and the process of metamorphosis. Their wonder caused them to pause and peer, to stop and stare! It also induced a curiosity as they went home and pondered the life of butterflies.

I love the wonder of childhood. I adored it with my daughter, and I love it 10 times more with my grandchildren. The reason is that as I grow older the sweetness of life becomes sweeter and more precious, and I am finally learning the art of savoring the beauty of it anew, like a child. It’s called recapturing wonder. This happens automatically if you become malleable and yield to the power of wonder. You are created to wonder, to gasp and fall back—to be gobsmacked by life and all its magnetic potential.

Sometimes, though, that life hits hard, and our initial response is to hit back twice as hard. It’s called surviving. This action and reaction can cause hearts to grow hard. Somewhere along the way adults stop indulging in wonder because they are too busy and maybe too hardened to pause and peer and ponder at the magnificence of creation and life and people and music and art and learning—I could go on and on. There is so much in the world for which to wonder, but we miss it in the sometimes painful and swift chaos of survival.

I would like to add praise to the other three words starting with P. Pausing to peer which causes us to ponder should then bring us to praise. Only dark and hard hearts cannot praise God for the beauty and the glory of the universe and all that it contains—all that he created.

I am serious about one of my life missions with my grandchildren. It is to teach them never to stop pausing and peering into the world, to never stop pondering what they see even if they don’t understand, even if it’s dark and hurts. Never stop asking questions. Never stop seeking solutions. Most of all never stop praising God for all things, even what is hard and what we don’t understand. It is God alone that is the supreme Creator that gave us Jesus, the express image of God himself in this world. This gives us born-again life – – a fresh start each day to enjoy the wonders of the goodness and love of God. In fact, it is my mission to teach them to never stop praising him because we can’t thank him enough. Even if we said, thank you until the end of time, it would never, never be enough. And I am wonderstruck at that and will never stop.

No hero from the pages of history inspires us as Jesus! He taught us to love by offering his own life as a sacrifice. He healed the sick and calmed the storm. He spoke up to the hypocritical religious leaders of his day. Jesus rejected being a political hero of his day, but turned to serve the lowly, the poor, the forgotten of his world. He created wine out of water to save a wedding. He cares. He loves. There is no one like him.

“The very reason that my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” (John 10:17-18)

You ask, “How then do we react to “wonder” like this, to the absolute immeasurable love of a tender and compassionate Redeemer?

I love the thoughts of John Piper,

“Christ is our life—not only the guarantee of it in heaven, but the down payment of it by the Spirit now, as he lives in us. His joy our joy, his love our love, his peace our peace, his strength our strength. These are not gifts moving from him to us. They are his life experienced as our life.”

Pause and peer at the wonder of it all. Ponder, weigh it, survey it. Let it enrichen your life. Ultimately, all of this should bring you to praise – – the kind of praise that goes on forever. For to him is the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

For it is from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever”(Romans 11:36).