As we mentioned on Wednesday, today marks the end of our giveaway. Every single one of you was entered to win a copy of Joshua Gibbs’ new book, “Love What Lasts”, as well as a tea sampler from one of our favorite local tea shops here in Minnesota. We hope to do more giveaways to thank you all for following and building this community with us.
Thanks to a random name selector, we are so thrilled to announce that our winner is…
Matt Smith!
Matt, we sent you an email to connect with you about your prize!
In the nine months we have been sharing articles with you, I have often returned to contemplating our goal and purpose. “A magazine for those who marvel”. A place to say that which is “wondrous to be said”. But the thought that haunts me is this:
Do I even know how to marvel?
I can’t speak for you, but I complain more often than I should. I overlook my blessings, I let days pass by without any meaningful work or thought, and I certainly don’t spend my days in constant awe of God’s creation. Not only do I forget to marvel, but I forget the awe that truly marvelous things invoke.
Perhaps you, too, need to be reminded of how to marvel, and I have just the thing for you. Josh Nadeau (@swordandpencil on Instagram) is an artist, philosopher, and writer living in Canada. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen some of his work, as it routinely astounds me and I share it often to my own page. Last week, he shared an article that he wrote for Ektasis Magazine. In it, you will find a lesson in marveling. In it, he writes:
“The Old Western Man lived in an alive universe, less concerned with how things work, and more enraptured with why they work. All of creation, to them, was a book, brimming with the meaning that God had imbued it with. The cosmos had vibrancy and mythology.”
If we view creation is a book brimming with meaning, it has so much more potential for wonder. We marvel at fiction constantly, after all, wishing we could visit Hogwarts, walk the Shire, or slip through a wardrobe into Narnia. If creation is the story we actually do get to live in, how have we become so bored of it? How do we learn to be conscious members of creation, who marvel at the world around them?
Nadeau’s article is your guide. Place yourself in Prince Caspian, and hear Aslan’s call. Let the Old Narnia in you awake. Stand beneath the heavens and listen to them proclaim God’s handiwork.
Not sure how to begin? Start by reading his whole essay, and allow it to encourage and inspire you: it rings of Aslan’s roar.