THE COLOR OF CURIOSITY

I’ve always enjoyed road trips. If I have the time I prefer taking to the open road than to the air. Recently I found myself traveling south more regularly than usual but what a beautiful time to hit the road. The season’s rains have cast an emerald glaze over every horizon which feels as refreshing as cucumber slices to the eyes. No, I didn’t go anywhere for a spa treatment, but my senses were revitalized just the same.

As the miles rolled by I found myself hanging onto a blush of purple along the road side and wondered if that was flax already in bloom. A ways south of Fred Robinson Bridge I spotted cow elk tightly huddled along the fence line where I’d not spotted elk before and I wondered what it was that threatened them in that moment. I saw a man getting on a horse in a round corral outside of a veterinary clinic and I wondered, being late in the day, if it was the veterinarian himself sneaking a ride in before an after-hours call comes in.

Mile after mile, one observation after another. Question upon question. I felt like a toddler bombarding the Father with, “Why this?” and “How’s that?” Though some parents grow weary of answering to their young child’s inquisitive mind, our God delights in a faith embossed with childlike wonder.

While tending the flock in the field, Moses noticed something that piqued his curiosity. “So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up’” (Exodus 3:3). In so doing, Moses discovered not a burning bush, but God.

Curiosity springs forth from what we notice. Too often in life I think we miss out on God’s movements all around us because we get too consumed with what’s going on inside our minds. Our thoughts, our worries, our plans. We tend to live inside our heads and interest in the world beyond ourselves dries up. But to revive curiosity we have to set our egocentric concentrations aside to open ourselves up to budding discoveries. There is so much happening in the world that doesn’t center upon us, and so much of it invites us to experience God at work in spite of us.

So I encourage you to splash a little curiosity into your tasks and obligations this summer. Take a few moments to stop and appreciate God’s creativity in the ridges of a leaf. Ponder on His love for relationships when you watch the honey bee light on a flower. Feel His power in the grandeur of a rushing waterfall or a lofty peak. Take notice of His own image embodied by another person. And if it’s been a while, dust off that bible and listen for His voice tucked into those filmy pages.

Nurturing curiosity isn’t about discovering the world for yourself but discovering God’s fervent presence in the world.

Theresa Danley, CLP

Milk River Churches