Wonder

In a moment of quiet as I gazed out the back window, the word ‘wonder’ came to me and the hymn:

I wonder as I wander out under the sky

And wonder is my word of the year.

As a gardener, when I stop with my list of garden tasks and simply stand or sit in the garden, I am overwhelmed by wonder. How does this bumblebee find this flower in the midst of the forest in which I live? Why is there a frog living in my small fountain in the middle of this forest? I wonder at the large oaks that made it through the timber industry felling and growing trees in this area. I wonder at the sun as it peaks through the trees as it rises in the morning. I wonder at the water color sky at sunset. I wonder at the fragile snowdrops push their way through the snow and the hummingbirds who make their way back every May.

They say you can see the reflection of the universe in a dewdrop. I get to experience and hold hands with the whole of nature in my garden. The nature in my garden is not the same as the nature in another garden. I get the live with the plants and wildlife of this place and I get the deeply know the nature of this place if I take the time to sit and wonder.

As I sit here writing, the fattest deer I have ever seen is making her way to the bird feeder. I’m guessing she is pregnant. When blue jays visit the feeder they throw out what they don’t want to eat and there is a mess of feed on the snow. She paws away at the snow to find more seed.

I wonder at the beauty of the wildlife in the my garden and I wonder how I am going to keep them from eating my plants. So wonder has a magical property and a problem-solving element. This year I want to reengage with the right-side of my brain, the side of my brain that sees magic and let the left-side, problem solving brain, follow that magic. I don’t want to search for problems to solve. I want to deeply live in the world around me and be part of its magic. I want to live a wonder full life this year.