A List You Might Want to Start

(Proverbs 30:18-19, Philippians 4:8-9)

Who is moved to tears in the book of Proverbs?

I would have guessed not a soul, except that my tears are flowing.

The good kind.

In all fairness, I haven’t been even remotely moved to tears until this second-to-last chapter.

Specifically, just two verses.

Whose beauty is astounding.

The first sets the stage.

There are three things too wonderful for me to understand—no, four! 

(Proverbs 30:18 TLB)

The second lists the four too-wonderful-for-me-to-understand things.

Which, honestly, don’t seem all that hard to understand.

At first.

How an eagle glides through the sky. 

How a serpent crawls upon a rock. 

How a ship finds its way across the heaving ocean. 

The growth of love between a man and a girl.

(Proverbs 30:19 TLB)

Four simple observations about life in the natural world.

The tendency is to speed read through them, right?

Mmhmm. Got it. 

Until you stop and consider the magic of their existence.

Except the snake.

I’m just not a snake person.

But the eagle . . . how does the eagle soar soundlessly across the sky, barely flapping its tremendous wings?

And the ship . . . how does a ship, skimming only the surface, work itself across a sea of churning water that looks the same in every direction?

And love . . .

Well, love is a whole lot more complicated than a snake, an eagle, or a ship.

Too wonderful to understand and impossible to define.

But you know when you feel it.

According to commentators, the three-no-four formula of this proverb implies that while the list is specific, it’s not exhaustive.

Which captures my imagination. 

And inspires me to begin my own list of too-wonderful-for-me-to-understand things.

Before I close my journal I’ve composed a neat list.

But as the day moves along I find myself returning to making additions.

Until the lines on the page are full and I’m jotting and starring new items along the sides and upside down at the top.

Because the more I fix my mind on things too-wonderful-for-me-to-understand, the more marvelous mysteries I see all around me.

And the longer my list grows.

And the more stars I need to draw.

Friendship

Happiness

Laughter

Tears

Hope

Art 

Humor

Sleep

Creativity

Heaven 

Eternity

The way thunder shakes the earth

The scent of rain

A full heart

The movement of the Holy Spirit

The mysteries of God

Once you start it’s hard to stop.

And maybe we shouldn’t.

Perhaps a list is a practical application of Paul’s final advice to the Philippians.

Fix your minds on the things which are holy and right and pure and beautiful and good. 

(Philippians 4:8 PHILLIPS)

Because fixing our minds on things around us that are too wonderful to understand fills our souls with wonder.

Cultivates an awareness of the Creator’s touch in our world.

And moves us to a place of humility.

Fill your mind with these things, Paul concludes, 

and the God of peace will walk with you.

(Philippians 4:9 MSG)

Into our valleys.

Over our mountaintops.

And everywhere in between.

Always with us.

Far too wonderful for me to understand. 

I can’t wait to find a spot to squeeze this one onto my crowded journal page.

And star it.

See you in a couple weeks.

Love,