I Wonder As I Wander
Wondering. We do it all day long. “I wonder if I have enough time to pick up the groceries before that meeting at noon.” “I wonder if Bob got that memo I sent him.” “I wonder if it’s going to rain today.” We use it as a tool to consider possibilities. We use it to daydream. Wondering can be powerful, and yet, as adults, do we use it enough in our spiritual lives?
In Faith City, thanks to the amazing Mrs. Leslie who started our incredible Children’s Program, wondering is a staple in our curriculum. If you volunteer to teach in one of our classrooms, you’ll notice that every lesson ends with a set of “Wondering Questions”. These are really statements, but the word “questions” identifies it as open-ended for the kids. Sometimes, these may seem silly, such as, “I wonder what Jesus’ favorite food was”, “I wonder what the mud smelled like that Jesus put on the blind man’s eyes”, and “I wonder what kind of fish fed the 5,000”. But we also wonder about whether the disciples missed their homes and friends when they left to follow Jesus or whether Mary was afraid to tell her parents when she found out she was pregnant with the Messiah.
Wondering opens up our minds. It expands the world and it brings these Biblical figures to life. We may discover things we have in common with the people we’re studying. We start to see them as real humans, rather than caricatures that we’ve heard about our entire lives. Suddenly, the story is alive and moving. The kids can engage with it and find new ways of experiencing the Bible. They can see themselves in the characters they are learning about.
It also helps us to continually direct our focus back to our main statement: “I WONDER what this story teaches us about God.” As we explore the characters, we find their humanity. Unfortunately, it is far too easy to make the characters in the Bible our focus. We can build them up as examples of how we should behave, but in Faith City, our focus is learning about who God is and developing a closer relationship with God. The people in the Bible were just people. The stories of those people give us glimpses of who God is and help us to know God better.
Perhaps most importantly, wondering leads to other questions. In Faith City, we are very clear that God is not afraid of our questions. Asking questions leads to deeper understanding and a deeper and more lasting faith. When we are ashamed of our questions and shut them out, our faith can become difficult to hold on to as those questions pile up with no outlet. Instead, we welcome questions and wondering helps us to feel more comfortable with asking them.
Wondering can also help us in conflict. When we encounter a topic on which there are very different points of view, wondering can help us to navigate that issue. Allowing ourselves to wonder how the other person came to their conclusion gives us the opportunity to see things we’ve never seen before. We begin to study and learn why we hold our convictions. And sometimes, wondering leads to changing our minds. Sometimes we realize that we had it wrong or we misunderstood.
So, I encourage you to start wondering. The next time you’re reading your Bible, let yourself wonder about the details of the characters lives. Allow yourself to wonder about the setting, the smells, the feel of the garments, the tastes of the foods. And the next time you encounter a conflict, try wondering. Allow God to guide your wondering and lead you in directions you may never have gone deliberately.
Brooke Whitlow