Curiosity
Magnolia Journal
I recently finished reading the summer ’18 edition of Magnolia Journal. For those of you who are unfamiliar with all things Magnolia, the Magnolia empire is run by Chip and Joanna Gaines of the HGTV show “Fixer Upper”. For those of you who haven’t seen the show, I highly recommend that you give it a watch.
Anyhow, each season the magazine chooses a word to be the focus of that particular edition. This season, the word was curiosity. The magazine defined it as being a “deep desire to know”. The idea is that there is always something new to learn in life, and that in order to gain knowledge, we first must have the curiosity to ask the questions in order to discover the answers.
Curiosity in Life
In one of the articles written by Chip, he included a quote by Socrates which reads the following:
“An unexamined life is not worth living.”
God has created this gigantic world for us to discover. It would be a shame to live our lives in a state of monotony when there is so much learn and so many opportunities to grow. I confess though, I resonate more with Joanna when it comes to curiosity. She talks about how she prefers to stay in her comfort zone, close to what is certain and familiar. However, she mentions that curiosity and perspective go hand in hand:
“We can use it (curiosity) to refine who we are, to help us realize that we can be more than we thought we were.”
When we allow our curiosity to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone, it allows us to grow as a person and may open up a whole new world to us.
Curiosity in Faith
A few weeks ago, I was listening to a podcast from the church I attended during grad school. The theme of the sermon was reading the Bible as a way to arm yourself with knowledge and truth. However, a common roadblock some Christians face is approaching time in the Word as an act of obligation rather than study. The main idea of the podcast was to approach the Bible in a studious manner. This means, not approaching a familiar story or passage and thinking you know all there is to know about it. Instead, the idea is to approach the Bible with a posture of humility and curiosity, firmly believing that God has something new to teach you if you’re curious enough to look for it.
Approaching scripture in this way breathes new life into passages that are almost overly-familiar. When we intently examine the Bible and our current life situation, these familiar passages may begin to hold new meaning.
So whether it be trying something new or approaching scripture reading in a new way, I hope you find the courage to boldly delve into the unknown with an attitude of curiosity.
Blessings on your home and table, ~Natalie
Check out the previous posting from Food, Faith, and Friday about gratitude.
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