Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Note (02/07/13)
-
TITLE: To Wonder at Things | Previous Challenge Entry
By Shanta Richard
02/14/13 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
As I marveled at how the butterfly had changed the whole place with her loveliness, I remembered Plato’s words, “The beginning of Truth is to wonder at things.” Many times I have wondered at things but never connected it with truth. I thought it might be a good exercise to note down everything that caused me to wonder and find the truth embedded in it. A few of my notes are as follows.
Note # 1: The gift of Joy is to be shared.
I live in a third floor apartment facing the south-east. The building is surrounded by trees and the third floor is on level with the tree tops. Thus every morning my windows open to the beauty of the brilliant colors of sunrise and to the melody of songbirds. The music of the birds intrigues me. What makes them sing with such happiness? What motivates them to share their joy in life with all nature? I learned that joy is a gift from God and the more you share it the more you are blessed.
Note # 2: Faith is to be proclaimed.
As a teenager in India I got Typhoid fever. In those days this disease had no cure except rest and diet. I remember that the most dreadful times were when I would wake up in the wee hours of the morning and be forced to lie still in bed. I used to eagerly wait for the cock to crow and announce the break of day. The cock would crow when the sky was still dark and the whole world was covered in gloom. I wonder how the cock knew that the darkness would soon fade away and the sun would rise. I think he believed that night would not last for ever and day would come. He did not keep his faith to himself. He had to proclaim it to all nature.
Note # 3: Trust is to obey
One summer our family went camping at the state park in Selkirk Shores in Pulaski, New York. There was a salmon hatching and breeding station nearby and we went visiting there. I was amazed to learn about the fascinating life of the salmon. The Webster Dictionary describes it as follows:
“The silvery salmon adults feed in the sea, but ascend rivers in winter to spawn in shallow gravel based streams. In the second or third spring after hatching they descend to the sea to feed voraciously. They may return to spawn eighteen months later.”
I wondered what made the salmon leave its happy feeding grounds in the sea to travel upstream, across the current to unknown shallows in order to spawn. Was it their response to an inborn urge, their obedience to a psychological prompting, or their reaction to the circadian rhythm? Or was it their Creator God’s plan for their lives? When God called Abraham to leave the land of his fathers and travel to an unknown destination, he obeyed trusting in God’s promise that He would lead him to a land flowing with milk and honey. The salmon was doing the same thing, putting its trust into action by obeying without question.
This is a delightful exercise and I will pursue it further, thanking Plato for his wonderful insight.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
The part that struck me was when you were in India with typhoid and you watched the sunrise every day to remember there would not always be light.