"Wake Up to Wonder" (Karen Wright Marsh)

TITLE: Wake Up to Wonder - 22 Invitations to Amazement in the Everyday
AUTHOR: Karen Wright Marsh
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2023, (208 pages).
 

There is a joke that talks about the three types of people in this world. The first type waits for things to happen. The second type makes things happen. The third type wonders what happened. The first type is the slacker. The second type is the planner. The third type is the ignorant. From a project management perspective, the joke is a fun way to inject urgency into the team. This book does not deal with project management per se. It is about discerning the exercise of faith, the relevance of hope, and the power of love. It might even encourage us to be the fourth type of person, a wakeful person in discernment about a time to wait, a time to work, and also a time to wonder. Instead of going it alone, author Karen Wright Marsh collects wisdom from 22 different sources of spiritual leaders on discernment. From Henri Nouwen, we learn how a man trapped in the cycle of busyness was able to discern his own identity through writing and conscientious reflection. Martin Luther reminds us of the gift of music to learn to sing our faith out loud. Thomas Merton's life of contemplation teaches us about cultivating prayer to become as natural as breathing. Hildegard Von Bingen points us toward personal healthcare to bring the body and soul to be in harmony. That involves deliberate food choices and health awareness. Margery Kempe shows us the simplicity of journeying spiritually by walking and thinking. Wangari Maathai expresses her faith through awareness of the stewardship of earthly resources to grow trees of both nature and faith. Caedmon invites us into a world of gratitude while Amanda Berry Smith shares about passionate prayer that is not shy about pouring out emotions and questions to God. Augustine's work and life demonstrate the power of confessions and confidence in God. Lilas Trotter wakes us up to wonder about artistry both within and without. Fannie Lou Hamer defends the weak and uses music to sing about salvation, redemption, and struggle. Patrick of Ireland helps us to embrace aloneness without guilt. Hans and Sophie Scholl caution us about evil indoctrination in an Information-loaded environment. Howard Thurman highlights stillness as an opportunity for renewal and fresh courage. Pandita Ramabai lives through various struggles of injustice and finds much solace in Scripture. Ephrem the Syrian surprises with a fresh look at the beauty that resembles hope even as we live through a world peppered with pain and loss. Ignatius of Loyola guides us through the daily examen. Benedict and Scholastica frame a disciplined way for us to work through the week. Brother Lawrence mentors us through intentional work and prayer.  Francis of Assisi and Clare of Assisi reveal unique callings of God to us, sometimes in ways that are different from conventional thinking. Dorothy Day directs us toward balancing work, life, worship, and rest. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee's life is an expose to the unexpected ways God raises leaders. 

My Thoughts
One of the ills of modern society is the rush to busyness. We are always busy doing something. If we are not busy, we will find something to busy ourselves with. This is symptomatic of a restless soul and an anxious heart. In a society that is never satisfied, people gravitate to many activities in order to feel fulfilled. Like drinking and eating that only satisfy us momentarily, we live from one meal to another, from one project to another, and from one program to another. We switch channels on TV when bored. We browse different websites to kill time. We flip social media pages searching in vain for something to satisfy our inner cravings. What if the answer is not outside but inside? This book shows us wonderful things we can learn about ourselves as we wake up to the undiscovered longings in our inner beings.  Author Karen Marsh reminds us about our inner inclinations toward stories. By giving us 22 stories about people in the past and present, we learn to write our own stories. Thus, this is a book about stories that speak to us when we take time to ponder and wonder. I am sure Marsh could have talked about many other people but curiously selected 22 unique individuals, some of whom I have not heard of. I wonder about what criteria Marsh uses to choose these people. Her five orientations will help us understand. It begins with "Wake Up" where Marsh helps us see the extraordinary in the midst of ordinary people in ordinary circumstances. This is perhaps the most important step for any busy person. If one can take time to ponder, it would have given any fatigued soul some space to breathe. "Reach Out" goes beyond the wakefulness to be conscious of the things and people around us. In a technology-full world, we have lost the art of stillness. Only in moments of stillness can we "Go Deep." Only when we learn about deepening our understanding can we appreciate the importance of growing a relationship with God as well as with fellow people. There is no quality time without quantity time. Hopefully, we can cultivate a lifestyle of work, rest, and play in order not to let the unhealthy spirit of busyness control us. 

Thanks to Marsh, we have a resource to give us at least 22 illustrations of how to rest, find ourselves, and to be able to look beyond our own needs toward others. There are many lessons we can pick up in this book. The exercises at the end of each invitation can spur us to put the call to wake up to wonder into practice. 

Karen Wright Marsh is the founding director of Theological Horizons, a ministry at the University of Virginia that hosts lectures, spiritual studies, dialogues, and mentoring initiatives. She is the author of Vintage Saints and Sinners: 25 Christians Who Transformed My Faith, which was named an Outreach Resource of the Year, a Logos Booksellers Book of the Year, and a Foreword INDIES finalist. Karen holds a degree in philosophy from Wheaton College and a degree in linguistics from the University of Virginia. She lives with her professor husband, Charles Marsh, at the Bonhoeffer House in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Brazos Press via NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.