I am thinking often these days of the prophet Habakkuk’s dilemma. He cannot abide what he sees around him, and when he complains to God he gets an answer right back. “Look… Observe! Wonder!” because I am doing something in your days. “You would not believe it if you were told.” God’s reply to the struggling seer opens a world of potential. It is there for the asking.

This exchange calls for some humility however, at the very least. If a Hebrew prophet, with an up close and personal relationship with Creator is told he would not believe specifics as to what God is presently up to, how do any of us think we can assume otherwise? The wonder here to me is that this clueless one gets an answer. There is wonder even that he had the temerity to ask and to expect an answer. There’s wonder in that he is given then a lot of detail, and when he asks for more he gets it. God does not wait for the prophet to have it all together before God lets him in on some of the wonder-workings. And wonder, this pregnant tension, is admonished by God. “Wonder!” Take time, while you still have it (it’s a gift), look around you (there’s much to see and learn from). Observe and be astonished, for Creator still exists and there is very much yet going on right now on this breaking ground.

This piece is entitled “Wonder Working.” It is one of my favorites from a series of monotypes I pulled out in December. It reveals the dynamic tension, the surprise midst the darkness, the softness hovering, and the entrance of the unexpected.