Astonished

There are lots of astonishing things in life - but we usually seem to miss them. I think that is why Jesus liked children - their ability to say "Wow!" - to be amazed. The cynic might claim that this makes them an easy audience - but children are not easy at all - they ask difficult questions and compete endlessly.

When the fisherfolk in the Gospel were with Jesus they rode a roller coaster of astonishment - they saw things they would never have thought possible but they were not naive - they seem to have asked questions which Jesus did not always answer in the way they would have liked.

This balance, then, between astonishment at our world and knowing there are things we need to ask about is, at times, an uncomfortable one. Sometimes we think we are OK on something only to find that, really it is just too hard. Other times we think something is every day and ordinary and when we look again we realize it is utterly amazing.

Allowing wonder means we take down some of our adult barriers. Allowing wonder means we might allow curiosity - but we are not naive and curiosity leads to places we might not have anticipated. The Spirit blows where it will - astonishment, nourishment, learning but most of all in calling us to dependence and trust on God - that we can allow God to truly astonish us.