Awe Will Make You a Better Person

The world doesn’t need more experts or leaders or gurus, the world needs awe

As we drove into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, I had no words for the emotions that rose up in my throat, and the tears that caught me off guard. I tried to put a name to these tears and assign meaning to them.

Were these tears of longing, a sense of belonging, a premonition of the future, a sign from God? I scrambled to label what I was experiencing and categorize it, frame it within something I could easily recognize. There seemed to be no reasonable explanation that I should cry in the backseat of a Chevy Silverado driving on the highway looking at mountains.

I realize now, a week into reflecting on my trip and that moment, that what I had experienced was awe…simply and greatly, awe. The mountains spoke of God’s power, His creative brilliance, His sheltering protection, and stood as a reminder of Him. As anyone who is in love with life and its Creator would do, I cried.

Awe will do that to you; it will make you cry. It will make you feel small and big, insignificant and special, all at the same time.

At that moment, I felt all alone but I also felt like I was a part of everyone else who had ever experienced this breathtaking sight before me. It was a heart awakening and a reminder that when I look around and feel blah, I am not living in awe, and I’m not worshiping God.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. (Psalm 19:1 NIV)

Here’s one definition of awe from a scientist. “It’s how we respond when we see something new or novel that doesn’t fit with our understanding of the world.” — Amie Gordon, Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist in the Emotion, Health, and Psychophysiology Lab at the University of California-San Francisco.

Awe brings awareness and change

Awe stops us in our tracks and asks us to remember our place in the universe. Awe reminds us of our frailty and God’s majesty. It expands us and makes us aware, causes us to pay attention, to slow down, to exist for the moment.

We lose our cares when we’re caught up in awe. Worry seems insignificant when awe takes center stage. The cares of this life? What cares? I’ve got this mountain in front of me and it commands my attention. Awe grounds us, yet at the same time lifts us, and awe changes us.

Do you know what doesn’t change us? Religion

Religion is stale, static, unchanging, rigid, unbending, and unyielding — it’s the antithesis of awe. Religion is not a system in which learning and growth through awe are fostered. Religion is a litmus test. Do you believe this? Yes. Ok, you can wear this label. Religion dislikes the new or novel. It squirms when it encounters something that doesn’t fit into its system.

Religion hated Jesus — He didn't fit the mold! While followers were in awe of Jesus’ love for them and formerly blind men were running through town praising His name, the religious leaders were scheming ways to fit Jesus into their religious box, and when He refused to be tamed, they looked for ways to distract from the awe surrounding Him. They missed the mountains right in front of them.

Awe rocks the ego and messes with our minds. Awe will bring doubts, questions, and wonder, and it will open you up to God in ways you never anticipated. Awe wakes you up!

Peter Enns wrote a book called The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our “Correct” Beliefs. I admit I haven’t read it yet, but it’s in my queue and after writing this piece, I think I will move it to the top.

The premise is that it’s okay to not have all the answers about God. I suppose in some ways we’re better off accepting that we don’t know it all rather than feeling the need to pretend that we do. But pride — aka a religious spirit — wants certainty.

Saul of Tarsis was once certain but found out how wrong he was about what it meant to serve and please God. The significance of his blinding was not that it served as a punishment, but rather to show him his reality. He was blind. Blinded by ego, by religion, by a false understanding of who God is and how a relationship with God worked.

Awe brought Saul to his senses.

Awe can do this for us too.

“Can you hold back the stars? Can you restrain Orion or Pleiades? Can you ensure the proper sequence of the seasons, or guide the constellation of the Bear with her satellites across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe and how the heavens influence the earth? Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct it? Who gives intuition and instinct? Who is wise enough to number all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven, when everything is dust and clods? (Job 38:31–36 TLB)

An awe-inspiring challenge

I was at a writer’s conference a few years ago where Sarah Hagerty challenged me to think about God in a different way. She encouraged each of us to ask God to show us a side of Him we had never seen. It sounded scary, a little unnerving.

My religious spirit rebelled a little — didn’t I understand God pretty well? Hadn’t I been studying the Bible for over three decades? What if that opened me up to things that weren’t really God? I wasn’t sure about this challenge but it stuck with me, and after reading her book, Unseen, I took up Sarah’s challenge. I asked God to show me something about Him that I hadn’t seen before, to awe me with His multi-faceted nature.

God loves a challenge, doesn’t He?

He also loves when we’re humble enough to acknowledge, as Job did, that we don’t know all that we thought we did. In fact, getting to know God is a lot like getting a higher education degree — the more you learn the more you understand how much you don’t know!

It hurts my brain and bruises my ego! And if you like bows, packages tied up in knots, clear explanations and categories, you’ll probably lose your mind finding God. It’s free falling, actually. Letting go and stepping into an unknown place to discover what you didn’t even know you were looking for!

One important distinction between awe and other emotions (like inspiration or surprise) is that awe makes us feel small — or feel a sense of “self-diminishment” in science-speak. And that’s good for us, Stellar explains. Why scientists say experiencing awe can help you live your best life

Awe puts our life into perspective

It turns out that awe makes us feel small, and that’s the way to victory in Christ. A little humble pie is good for the soul.

Learning to lose helps us win.

I could wax poetic on the paradox of kingdom living but Jesus explains it so much better throughout the gospels.

And all around us, creation points out that we’re an itsy bitsy part of the larger whole, a micro story within the macro version of History. It’s best if we accept our small place in God’s plan and rediscovering awe can help us do that.

The Psalms reference so much of God’s creation because it’s how people in ancient times bore witness of God and were reminded of His vastness and greatness. He is beyond our grasp and I suppose that’s what makes Him God.

If we could contain Him, explain Him, reduce Him to rules and small square boxes who would want Him? The attraction to a Creator that can’t be contained or tamed is what draws us.

The world doesn’t need more experts or leaders or gurus, the world needs Awe.

He’s part mystery, but also knowable, great beyond our understanding but willing to live within us. He’s powerful enough to crush us with a word but kind enough to cherish and redeem us.

“I didn’t need to understand the hypostatic unity of the Trinity; I just needed to turn my life over to whoever came up with the redwood trees.” — Anne Lamott

One cannot love God without loving all He’s created. His creation speaks of His nature and nature speaks of Him as Creator. He surrounds us with awe so we’ll have no excuse to miss His majesty.

“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here’s a pocket reference for when you need an infusion of awe into your life

• Go somewhere new — it can be something simple like a specialty bakery — those fancy cupcakes inspire awe in me, an art gallery, or a church with stained glass windows and murals.
• Read the Psalms out loud, or listen to them on audio. Try a new translation like The Message — hearing something in a new way can trigger your brain to think about it anew.
• Walk in nature — wherever you are or take weekend day trips.
• Take your camera and observe something very small or something very large — watch a bee collect pollen, watch clouds shape-shift, sit with the tide as it recedes.
• Watch nature and science documentaries — many of my favorites are from PBS and can be found on Netflix.
• Visit a nature center, planetarium, or natural history museum.
• Stay up late and watch the night sky — better if it’s in a dark place but take the time for your eyes to get acclimated to the sky so you’ll see more stars.
• Visit the ocean — even if you don’t stay for a week — drive over and spend a long weekend.
• Climb a mountain, if you can, or drive up one and get out of your car. Listen to the quiet and breathe in the fresher air.
• Watch a sunrise or sunset — better yet watch them every day if you can!
• Go camping, glamping, rent an RV, find an Airbnb in the country, or rent a cabin in a state park.
• Visit an orchard or farm and pick your own fruit.
• Climb a tree — use a ladder if you have to!
• Watch a bird fashion its nest.
• Walk in the rain, walk in the snow, sit in the sun.
• Walk in the woods or through a meadow or along a river.
• Get out to the country — take the back roads whenever you can.

“When your world moves too fast and you lose yourself in the chaos, introduce yourself to each color of the sunset, reacquaint yourself with the earth beneath your feet, thank the air that surrounds you with every breath you take. Find yourself in the appreciation of life.” — Christy Ann Martine

This story is published in Koinonia — stories by Christians to encourage, entertain, and empower you in your faith, food, fitness, family and fun.

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