Our Wonder Years

I walk by dying dandelions every day. So common. Gone in a breath.

But when I take time to look, it's a magic moment. A lit sparkler. A wizard’s wand. A glowing crown of thorns. A halo.

My husband and I are in our last quarter of life, what we’ve named our “Wonder Years.” Yes. That can mean wondering where I put my phone, wondering how I’ll not trip and fall, wondering what happened to my waist. But it is also the wonder of taking a deep breath to see a world that is filled with beauty, kindness, and miracles. Especially in a time that seems filled with ugliness, meanness, and despair. So instead of being ashamed of slowing down (it seems so un-American) we’re trying to see it as a privilege. We get to stop and see, pause and point out, taste and relish.

All of life is holy. 

If that is true—all of life is holy—why do I allow deadening distractions to snatch my attention away, and non-stop newsfeeds to magnify my fears, destroy my joy, and forget what’s ahead?

“There will be a highway
    called the Holy Road.
No one rude or rebellious
    is permitted on this road.
It’s for God’s people exclusively—
    impossible to get lost on this road.
    Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road,
    no dangerous wild animals—
Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.
    Only the redeemed will walk on it.
The people God has ransomed
    will come back on this road.
They’ll sing as they make their way home to Zion,
    unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,
Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness
    as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.”

Isaiah 35:8-10 The Message

Think what awaits us because of the agonizing crown of thorns worn 2,000 years ago. Unfading halos of joy circling our heads, where all sorrows and sighs will scurry into the night.

Perhaps dandelions aren’t common. They are signposts of what’s to come. And as the breath of a breeze scatters the seeds, even more halos of joy will line that Holy Road to home.