I was listening to a podcast not long ago that talked about technology, invention, imagination... and what is happening to our sense of wonder now that we can ask Alexa anything. It was specifically about the sense of wonder that is dwindling among children when they don't have to ask the question... "Why?" I know... I KNOW... every parent LOVES the endless barrage of "why" questions from the burgeoning mind of their four-year-old. Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? Why does your face look funny? Why is that man fat? Why... why... WHY? But here's the thing...
Answering the question is about more than just fact-finding. Much is to be learned from the art of the inquiry... asking deliberate and thought-provoking questions. Rarely did I ever immediately answer children's "Why" questions with information. My typical response was to first match their question with a question of my own... "Why do you think (whatever it was they asked)". I wanted them to think about it before I just tossed them an answer (not that my answer was always correct!). I wanted to hear how their brain worked and then how they translated their imagination into words that someone else could understand. I wanted them to make up answers and tell stories about what they might imagine before hearing any information. I wanted them to learn to wonder. And for some strange reason, as I think about this sense of wonder that seems to be waning... I think back to the coming-of-age sitcom from my own coming-of-age times (1988-1993), "The Wonder Years".
The final sounds of the last episode of the show is of Kevin, as an adult, talking about those formidable years... ages 12-17... when was becoming who he would be. As he reminisced, he spoke the following... "Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house like a lot of houses. A yard like a lot of other yards. On a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back... with wonder."
In an age where we have more information at our fingertips than ever before in the history of the world, I wonder what our children will say about their childhood when they look back... and wonder. I wonder if they will tell tales of endless internet antics. I wonder if they will talk of social media shenanigans. I wonder if they will wonder what life might have been like without cyberbullying and school shootings. I wonder what they might have been able to imagine if they looked up from their screens and talking boxes and wondered about life beyond digital devices. And I wonder if they will attribute much of their memories to how they saw their parents respond to the world... needing to know more than accepting any unknowns. And as I wonder about all this, I wonder...
What if we took our most intimate, imaginative inquiries to the Almighty instead of Alexa. Wonder what He would have to say?
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." - James 1:5-6
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