I get a great kick watching my children watch the world. They are blessed with the eyes of wonder.
My baby looks at each object as if he’s never seen it before. He is so surprised by it. He can sit there and look at his hand for the longest time as if it’s the most fascinating object. And he just giggles and laughs. He is simply awestruck.
To be struck with awe is a little like seeing fireworks. When we see fireworks, we exclaim “Ohhhhhhhh,” “Ahhhhhhhh.” We’re so dazzled, we simply have no words.
Awe is the moment when you see a waterfall, or a rainbow, or a stormy sea, or a new born baby, and you are overwhelmed with feelings of reverence and wonder, when you are so struck with amazement at God’s brilliance and genius that you can only utter “Ahhhhh.” You see God when you see the realness of the world rather than look at it through your filter of interpretations and categorizations.
This is where Adam and Eve went wrong. By eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they acquired a set of definitions and labels that broke their vision of wholeness into separate pieces.
It is not that God didn’t want them to have knowledge—that is not why the tree was off limits. Labels serve an important purpose. God had every intention of giving Adam and Eve the opportunity to eat from the tree, but not before filling their eyes with wonder without the interference of knowledge, words and ideas.
Don’t let labels and words steal the joy of wonder.