WONDER AND AWE

(The title of this picture is "Wonderment" with credit to: Jennifer Alder)

"WONDER AND AWE"

I have been thinking about the wonder and awe of certain moments. I'm probably in this mode because today, I went to the wedding of a young person (a friend of my daughter's). My daughter was the "maid of honor" and there was also a "matron of honor" (the bride's sister). I didn't realize this would happen, but tears of joy and just plain overpowering emotion hit me as the ceremony began. Luckily, Alkyseltzer, had brought two handkerchiefs and gave me one of them. (My few Kleenex were never going to be sufficient.)

It was a beautiful Catholic ceremony with "ALL the extras" - lighting of the candles by both mothers and then the lighting of the one candle by the bride and groom, roses for Mary, coins, and a mass. I felt such a sense of wonder and awe at the love and joy expressed in the sacrament of marriage and the love radiating from the faces of the wedding couple, parents, the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and the guests.

As we were going home, I was wishing and praying for the best for this young couple. The odds are so lousy when it comes to marriages that last in our current cultural climate. But some do. My parents were married over 60 years and only death ended it. My current marriage was one made in heaven and will also last. So, even though the odds may not be so good, I know that I can pray, trust, and have faith that their love and commitment will see them through the good and bad times.

These musings very naturally brought me to the thought of the newly sober. What wonder and awe I feel whenever someone beats the odds (even worse than for marriages staying together) and gets sober. It is a true miracle. And I know that even though those odds are terrible, many do stay sober. God bless them. (And God bless those who don't too!)

When I was in treatment, I remember our counselor telling my group (about 20 of us) that the odds of our staying sober weren't good. She told us "maybe" one of us "might" be able to do that. I remember, at that very moment, looking around at the people in that group who I had come to know and love and feeling a deep sorrow for them because I "knew" that I would be the one to stay sober. This was not a prideful idea on my part. I was beaten into total submission at that point. My scorecard was at minus zero. No - it was an intuitive thought placed there by God. Another moment in time that I have never forgotten and never will.

There are so many other things that fill me with the feeling of wonder and awe such as the birth of a baby, many sights of nature, being on a gigantic ship in the middle of the Caribbean looking out at the endless expanse of water, sky and clouds. I am thankful today that I am able to feel wonder and awe, that I am able to see these marvelous things, focus on them, and appreciate what God has given me (us).

Prayer Girl