A friend of mine is doing a research project on wonder and curiosity. He asked several people, including yours truly, to write a short reflection upon something that fills us with either or both of those sensations.
As soon as I decided on my topic, I knew it would fit in nicely with the theme of this blog – and, indeed, of my life’s work. Hence, I share it with you now. 🙂 Enjoy!
I learned to read at a very early age, and before that, I was being read to. Thus, Story has always been part of my life: a vital conduit of each day’s thoughts and feelings, and a dynamic foundation stone of my very identity. I love Story – reading it, watching it, writing it, acting it, singing it, dancing it, living it. I love finding Story in unexpected places and creating Story in fellowship with others.
When I try to put into words why I love Story, I keep coming back to the word “wonder”.
The best stories – the ones that have lingered through the years and keep bearing fruit in my soul – are those that filled me with wonder.
I remember the first time I finished reading The Lord of the Rings.
I was sitting on the couch in the living room of the house where I grew up, near Atlanta, Georgia. It was the middle of the afternoon, with southern sunshine streaming through the windows. I read the final words of The Return of the King, closed the book, and . . . sat. I couldn’t move or speak. I was caught up – even now, over two decades later, how that same feeling grips my soul and fills my eyes with tears! – into a whirl of wonder such as I had not known before.
An aching mixture of beauty and loss – that which C. S. Lewis calls “joy” – burst into vibrant bloom in my spirit, working a mighty layer of the lifelong transformation into the woman I am meant to be. The beauty came from finding myself in a new world, one in which I felt so much more at home – so much more myself – than the “real world”. This, my soul sang, is Home: “Reality” with a capital “R”! The loss came when the book ended, and the words “The End” were spoken, and I was thrust back out into the little “r” reality in which we are all sojourning.
Perhaps I did not think to call it “wonder” then, but I knew that I wanted to spend my life cultivating that feeling and inspiring it in others.
That story has been part of my story ever since, for it opened a door for me into the great Story – the one into which we are all caught up. Now, as a writer, I labor every day to open that gate afresh.
Sometimes, that means stepping through it myself, seeking and embracing stories that inspire that gorgeously painful sense of love and grief and hope.
Sometimes it means revisiting the old tales – not in an instant-replay, “gotta get my fix” sort of way, for few things kill wonder faster than coddling our petulant desire for satiety – but in the “I need to keep looking in the mirror so I don’t forget what I look like” sense. Middle Earth, Narnia, Redwall – I return there often, and always find my soul refreshed.
Sometimes, it means trying to shape words into poems or tales that will provide a key for another reader.
That is my current quest, and I can imagine no greater privilege – for I think the world needs wonder.
I certainly do.
And for me, nothing creates wonder like Story.
Here’s wishing you a wonder-full weekend, friends.
Now, back to the editing of my current labor, The Ancient. I keep telling myself “Just one more readthru…”
Ah, the STORY!! How wonderful-filled it is, giving rise to all other stories that matter!!! Thank you, dear one, for including us on the journey. Love you!.,
You are a poet, dear Ruth, even in your prose.
That is deeply affirming. Thank you.
Good stuff, R.A.Nelson. Ah, I really love your synopsis and thoughts. This superb writing and you left a great key for me. Thank you so much for sharing. never fade away. Lovely lady thank you for writing. I apparently just had my devotions by reading your blog.
Wow! I am glad. 🙂 Huzzah for deep soul-sharing!
I cried too when I finished Return of the King!