Earlier this year when I was making a list of “returns” to be made, I heard the Lord whisper that “returns are over His people this year.” In Ecclesiastes 8:5 it says “the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.” So I’ve been leaning in to ask at different times, what is it that’s being returned or restored and how do we prepare for it? I love that God still speaks to His children and “answers us when we call” however I am so grateful for His speaking even when we find ourselves not asking. And this time His words took me by surprise as I settled in to watch a movie with my kids. I pushed play not knowing what we’re about to watch and I heard the words “RETURN TO WONDER” resounding. I looked at my Son and asked if he heard something, to which he did not, then asked me to be quiet for the movie he couldn’t wait to watch. It was none other than “Mary Poppins Returns.” That was more then fitting, so we cuddled in until the end and the last scene took my breath away. It’s where a wonderful invitation is being handed out with balloons because “there is no where else to go but up.”
All this had me thinking about the invitations I’ve been inundated with lately. I’ve had four invites for things just this week and three from last week. I then thought about the Lord’s words to “return to wonder” as an actual invitation to us, to draw our hearts to be open to “surprise mingled with admiration and awe/ the feeling that is caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar or inexplicable.” I think He has intentions to woo us with wonder this season. Big moments that bring lasting change and small ones that fill us with hope and return to us to a place of “awe/fascination/surprise/astonishment/ and amazement.”
If these words seem to out of reach or far from your heart then remember that an invitation is just an opportunity for us to accept. It’s there to attract, lure, entice, and draw us towards something…in this case something higher, something bigger, and something more enticing if we’d be willing to take it.
Confession: When I heard those words at the start of the movie I laughed. Not like the “that’s so good Lord, I can’t wait for this” kind of laugh, but more like the laugh that Sarah must have had when The Father said she’d be pregnant in her very old age kind of a laugh (Gen.18:12). But even that ended up to be a wonder for her, a display of God’s power, wisdom, and promise. So I feel hope rising for what God has in store for us and I think all we have to do is be willing to accept what He’s extending. We don’t have to conjure anything up or make anything happen, because just like the actual invites I’m saying “yes” to this week, all I have to do is show up.
Could it be that we are running into the days of wonder; “Where He pours out His spirit on all people, sons and daughters prophesy, we get to see visions and dream dreams. He will show WONDERS in the heavens above and signs on the earth below.” Acts 2:17
Let’s go higher, DeAnn