The Wonder and Awe and Joy of Life

There is this great scene in the movie Awakenings. It is based on a true story about a young doctor named Oliver Sacks who was working with patients suffering from a condition called “sleeping sickness.” They were basically living in a catatonic state – not completely unconscious, but not fully awake either. In the movie, Robin Williams plays the doctor and Robert DeNiro plays the part of Leonard Lowe, the first patient to be “awakened,” through the use of an experimental drug.

In this scene, after thirty years of existing in a sleep-like state, Leonard suddenly regains his ability to walk and talk. He’s so excited by his new life that he calls the doctor in the middle of the night and says he has to talk to him. The doctor arrives quickly, and Leonard says to him: “We’ve got to tell everybody, we’ve got to remind them, we’ve got to remind them how good it is.”

“How good what is, Leonard?” the doctor asks. Leonard picks up a newspaper: “Read the newspaper. See what they say, all bad, it’s all bad. People have forgotten what life is about. They’ve forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded. They need to be reminded about what they have and what they can lose. And what I feel is the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life!” 

The scene is compelling. And it raises the question, how many of us have lost that sense of wonder and awe and joy in life? 

The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote, “Earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes…”

Jesus said, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and your joy complete.”

Let us pray: You are holy and beautiful and awe-inspiring, and we praise you, O God.  You hold the heavens and the earth in the palm of your hands and you hold us.  We thank you for your grace, for your love, for your presence in our lives. Help us to embrace this life, this one life that you have given us with wonder and awe. Even in the midst of our struggles and challenges, may we know your love and deeper joy; through Christ, we pray. Amen.