Rediscovering Wonder by Laura Whitfield, author of Untethered: Faith, Failure, and Finding Solid Ground

Rediscovering Wonder by Laura Whitfield, author of Untethered: Faith, Failure, and Finding Solid Ground 

“Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.” Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost your sense of wonder? The feeling you had as a child when everyday moments held magic?

I remember the day I started to regain my sense of wonder. It was mid-October 2016. The air was crisp, the sky, bright blue—as perfect as a day can be. When I walked past the large Japanese maple in our front yard, a beam of sunlight broke through the leaves. As it pulsed and shimmered, I felt sad. I knew something was missing. But what?

I felt disconnected from the beauty before me. Something was keeping me from embracing that moment and all it held. That’s when it hit me: I’d lost my sense of wonder.

As a young mother, I’d viewed wonder through the eyes of my three daughters. As a kindergarten teacher, I’d seen it in my students. One little girl, Emma, found wonder in everything. “This is the best day EVER!” she’d say. Nothing particularly exciting had happened. To me, it seemed like an ordinary day. But Emma could see through the ordinary to the ephemeral. To her, every day was magic.

“The world is full of magic things patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper,” said William Butler Yeats. Surely there must be a way to be more like Emma. I just had to figure out how. Maybe, if I thought back to my childhood, I could reconnect with what brought me joy. Maybe it would hold the secret. Maybe that would be the path back. 

The secret was in plain sight. It was nature. As a young girl, I spent every moment I could outdoors—climbing trees, picking flowers, finding shapes in clouds. If I was going to rediscover wonder, I’d need to return to those everyday miracles. Since my husband and I live on a lake surrounded by woods, I had to look no further than my own backyard.

That day I began to reconnect with the wonder that was there all along. I knew wonder was a gift from God and that’s where I needed to start. “Be still and know that I am God,” says the psalmist. So I began to be still. To meditate. To sit in silence among the trees. To wait and listen.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands,” we read in Psalm 19. I am an early riser, so many mornings I look out at the lake and watch the sun rise over the trees and reflect on the water below. One day I catch subtle gradations of yellow and orange. The next, a cotton candy swirl of pink and powder blue. Then a dazzling dance of fuchsia and magenta. No two days are the same. 

I knew this longing to rediscover wonder was something God had placed in me. And that He would meet me at the intersection of my faith and longing—if only I had the eyes to see. Jesus said we needed “faith like a little child.” Childlike faith is what I began to experience when our first grandchild was born in the middle of 2020. Hasten is now nineteen months old, and he fills our days with wonder. When he takes in something new, his eyes widen and he exclaims, “Ooohh!” Whether it’s a rock, a big rig—even a shark sticker—he is all about discovery. He seems to find delight in everything. And those of us who are blessed to spend our days caring for him discover it, too. 

While writing my memoir, I found joy—and wonder—in recalling happier times before my brother, Lawrence’s, tragic death in 1971, an event that changed everything. One such memory was our family’s first trip to North Carolina’s Outer Banks:

“Daddy stopped at a shell shop called Shipwreck, and I picked out a box of exotic conchs and cowries housed in a pale green box to bring home as a souvenir. 

On the way home, I sat in the back seat, rubbing my fingers across those colorful shells. Something about this place had slipped into my heart. It would remain there the rest of my life.” 

Since renewing my search for wonder, I’ve never been disappointed. Maybe it’s a thought that appears. Or a deer. Or a gentle breeze. But there is connection. With the Creator and creation and the creative in me.

With that connection comes gratitude. Being grateful for the beauty before me. The creative process of finding words to express my human experience. Marveling at small details. Finding wonder in my breath. I am alive. Today is a gift. Let me not squander it. Thank you, Lord.

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Laura grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, the daughter of a journalist and a teacher. She has been an advertising copywriter, newspaper columnist, staff writer for an international relief agency, travel writer, blogger, teacher, communications director for several nonprofits, and personal assistant to a New York Times best-selling author. Laura is passionate about her faith, books, travel, nature (especially the beach), social justice, and her family. She lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband, Stephen.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurawhitfieldwriter/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurawwriter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/writerwhitfield

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Untethered:Faith, Failure and Finding Solid Ground 

When Laura Whitfield was fourteen, her extraordinary brother, Lawrence, was killed in a mountain climbing accident. That night she had an epiphany: Life is short. Dream big, even if it means taking risks. So, after graduating from high school, she set out on her own, prepared to do just that.

Laura spent her first summer after high school on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Those few months were magical, filled with friendship, beer and boys. After the summer of her life, Laura arrived at college only to realize she hadn’t escaped the shadow of her brother’s death. So instead, made the move to the Big Apple to pursue a career in modeling. Life should have been a movie then: pursuing her “dreams” in the big city while waiting tables and trying to find love. But nothing seemed to work, and there was only one thing Laura could think of to get back on her feet –– she moved back to North Carolina.

A stirring memoir about a young woman’s quest to find hope and stability after devastating loss, Untethered is Laura’s story of overcoming shame, embracing faith, and learning that taking risks—and failing—can lead to a bigger life than you’ve ever dared to imagine. 

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing