Part of the Series The Twelve Days as Twelve Ways to Deepen Your Connection with God.

To live with wonder is to live with awe and reverence. Wonder is childlike--wide-eyed and innocent before a mystery bigger than you are. You don't have to be a child to know wonder, but most of us grown-ups no longer know what it's like to stand wide-eyed and awe-struck before a mystery that's beyond us.

Beauty is the surest way back into a sense of wonder. Beauty renders your mind temporally dumb, your thoughts overwhelmed by splendor. There are no words, no thoughts that can pull your mind into the beauty that's before you.

Prayer needs wonder like your camel needs water. Not all the time or even frequently. Frequently would be nice, and prayer-that-frequently-leads-to-wonder may come your way, but you're probably not there yet. It's enough when it comes to you here and there. Just a little taste of beauty-inspired wonder will carry you a long, long way.

Frankly, on your journey up to this point your prayers have often been more like a supply list of things you've needed to pick up at the next town along the way, or like a to-do list for the God you seek. That's understandable. But take care to get yourself our of yourself from time to time, and into something much, much bigger. Wide-eyed and innocent again before beauty. There's no better way to infuse your praying with wonder and a sense of the Divine.

Silent, still, and awe-struck before beauty--now you're speaking the language of God.

Today, beauty will cross my path, but I'll miss it if I'm preoccupied. I must watch for it. And when it comes, I'll stand silent and still, drinking deep of wonder.