Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Monday, August 6, 2012

"But you [God] desire honesty from the heart, so you can teach me to be wise in my inmost being."¹

In response to an earlier Daily Encounter on materialism being caused by the repression of the emotion of wonder, Kay wrote, "I really like what you said about wonder. I think we get so caught up with the day-to-day drive that we miss out on so many things that are 'wonderful' because we don't value this emotion enough. Could you please discuss how we who are overworked and tired can take some time to re-activate that sense?"

If you are in touch with your emotions, you need to make and "take time to smell the roses" … to walk on the beach, climb a mountain, sing songs, listen to quality music, dance in the snow, let your hair down, plant a garden, have fun, etc., etc. This will greatly increase your appreciation of God and the marvels of his creation. As the hymn writer put it we become "lost in wonder, love and awe."

However, if one is repressed and out of touch with his/her God-given emotions, it's a lot more complicated than this.

In much younger days I'd never even heard of the emotion of wonder. The only clue I had that something was missing in my life was that I constantly felt empty inside. On the outside I was living what would be considered a good Christian life but emotionally I felt blah. I recall sharing how I felt with a friend and he, too, felt the same way. Both of us had grown up being taught that feelings weren't important and that you couldn't trust them. So, in spite of all we had been taught, we got down on our knees, told God how we felt, and asked him to give us some feelings anyhow.

Whew … be careful how you pray. Very soon after praying that prayer my world fell apart. I won't bore you with the details but I surely did get feelings back. Early in life I learned to build walls around my heart to protect myself from hurt and negative feelings. However, in hiding my negative feelings I also put walls around my positive feelings and they became buried and repressed too. Unfortunately, as pain is the way into hiding, pain is also the way out. I learned it was only when my pain was greater than my fear that I was able to break through the walls (defenses) that had cut off my feelings.

My recovery didn't happen overnight by any means and I had many painful experiences to go through, but as a result I am a much healthier, happier, more contented, and more fulfilled person today than I was at half my age.

Let me suggest as a starting point for experiencing wonder that you genuinely pray today's prayer: "Dear God, thank you that I have been created in your image with the ability to think, to feel, and to choose. Please help me to get in touch with all of my God-given emotions (no matter how painful this may be) so that I can experience the glory of your presence and the marvels of your creationâ€"and therein be lost in wonder, love, and awe. Please grant that my life will become wonder-full. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."

P.S. For additional help in this area be sure to read the book, You Can't Fly With a Broken Wing, by yours truly. Check it out at www.actscom.com/store.

1. Psalm 51:6 (TLB)(NLT).

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