An Ocean of Wonder 
This devotional was written by Mike DeVries

 

He called a little child, whom he placed among them. And he said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter in to the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:2-3

A few weeks ago, my son Josh and I went down to T-street in San Clemente, California for a little morning surf session before he had to run off to school. We pulled into the parking lot and surveyed the morning waves. Noticing that it was going to be a great morning, we slipped into our wetsuits and headed out. The sun was just beginning to break through the morning marine layer that hovers over the coast like a warm blanket.

I really love these times with my son. While the surfing is important, it’s the conversations that make the morning. Lying on our boards in between sets of waves, Josh and I have had some amazing conversations about life, school, growing up and the fine art of riding waves.

Anyway, about a half-hour into our hour session, we were about to get a visitor, one that we had not planned for. Cutting left on the wave, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something black in the water on the face of the wave. As I went past, it became clear that I was not the only one on this wave.

A little head with whiskers poked out of the water no more than five feet away from me.

For the next twenty minutes or so, Josh and I shared the morning with several playful sea lions. After growing tired of our company, the sea lions disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, leaving us with plenty of stories to tell that day.

And tell them Josh did.

Our first stop was Pedro’s Tacos for a breakfast burrito [a Wednesday morning tradition], where Josh proceeded to tell the lady at the window all about our morning adventure. Then it was home, where Mom was filled in on the morning escapades. Then, off to school where Josh’s classmates were regaled with accounts of the morning. Every class, the same story, “You’re not going to believe what I saw this morning...”

At the end of the day, as I lay down on Josh’s bed recounting our day together, the stories flowed again. “Dad, you know what was so cool? When...”

That’s when it hit me. While he was reliving every wonder-filled moment on the ocean that morning, all day long, I had moved on into my “adult,” business-mode day without a mention for the rest of the day of our experience. I had moved on to more “important” things. Or had I? When was it exactly that I had lost the ability to live in the wonder of it all? Perhaps this is what Jesus was getting at. The essence of seeing the Kingdom is to live saturated with the wonder of a child – to see things with wonder-filled eyes. This, this is what awakening to the Kingdom is all about.

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GOING DEEPER:

For the next week, set aside an hour a day and go for a walk alone. Use this time to breathe and to look around. See what happens.

FURTHER READING:

Psalm 8; Matthew 18:1-5


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