"Wonderful"

I know that I probably say this a lot, but, by God’s blessing, my life is REALLY wonderful.  I don’t mean the kind of wonderful that describes your favorite movie or the decadence of  Double Fudge Brownie Blast ice cream.  It’s a word that has become part of our daily vocabulary; for use in every pleasurable situation, from scoring a deal on cereal to reconnecting with a dear old friend.  Those things are nice, entertaining, tasty,  convenient, and enjoyable.  Some may even fit the word correctly, but are degraded by it simply because of it’s over-use.
       “Wonderful” is defined as an adjective meaning “excellent; great; marvelous… of a sort that causes or arouses wonder; amazing astonishing.”
When I say that my life is wonderful, I mean that it is actually filled FULL of WONDER.  Though it’s definition isn’t exclusive to positive feelings (and there are times when I find myself staring dumb-founded at one of my progeny who has managed to get their head stuck in a railing to no apparent purpose, or I marvel and my husband who is looking -with difficulty- for the bread that is 8” under his nose in plane sight) we do tend to associate with things of a pleasing nature, and don’t often use it in negative situations.  And it is in that way that I use it now.
I wonder at things that, like the word itself, we often take for granted.  My life, health and functionality, in a world where so many are born with disabilities, or aborted before they take their first breath.  I wonder at my citizenship.  As many criticisms as I can find with the government and policies, I was born in what I believe to be the greatest nation on earth.  What are the odds of that?  I wonder at my salvation in Christ, and all that He has done for me (that is a book of its own).  I wonder at my husbands love for me, and our story.  That he chose me to be with, at the intimacy and connection that we share, and that we make the perfect team.  And, more than anything else, I wonder at my beautiful daughters.  My four precious, intelligent, creative, forgiving, loving, independent, fire-y, daring, thoughtful, adorable, curious and inquiring girls.
When we were expecting my oldest I wondered at her growth, and the miracle of life inside of life.  When she was born I was amazed at her tiny little likenesses to myself and my husband.  As she grew and my others came into our lives I wondered (and still do) daily at the beauty and creative design that went into them.  At the potential that is before them.  And at the individuality that IS each of them.  I look at their little feet and wonder at the places they will travel.  I look at their little blue eyes and marvel over the things that they will see.  I look at their precious hands and try to imagine some of the things that they will do with them.  I cherish these moments.  And I and filled with wonder at them.
From the time I get up in the morning until I collapse onto my pillow at night there is never a dull  moment.  There is never a lack of fulfillment or purpose.   I am not entitled to anything that I have, and it could all be gone in a moment.  But it’s not.  By God’s blessing it is here around me, and within me, every day.  And, even at 30 years old, I feel like a kid when I think about it all. It’s rather exciting.  It’s real.  It’s joyful and painful and hopeful and rewarding.  It’s amazing.
My life is wonderful.  Every blessed moment of it.  In the truest sense of the word.  Wonderful