A Wonder To Behold

Yvonne Wood opened her eyes. She didn't know why she opened them. She looked at the clock at her bedside. It read 3:30am. Why did I wake up? Did I hear some sort of noise, maybe? Yvonne turned over and tried to go back to sleep.

Twenty minutes later, she was still awake. She groaned. Maybe it was because there was a lot on her mind. Yvonne was one of the "higher-ups" in a catering business, and there was a big event happening in a few days. It might be a good idea if she worked on the centerpieces some more. She had brought her work home with her that night and hadn't gotten to bed until midnight.

With a heavy sigh, Yvonne got out of bed. It was obvious that she wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon.

As Yvonne made her way down the hall, she paused by her roommate's doorway. All was still inside. Kay, Yvonne's college dormmate, (who had gone halfsies with her for a real apartment after the first semester) was spending time with her family on a visit that was a long time in coming. She wouldn't be back for another week.

Yvonne felt a little lonely without her friend. She had grown accustomed to the other woman's presence. Kay had become a very dear friend, although, admittedly, they hadn't gotten along so very well in the beginning.

Yvonne wistfully shook her head and continued on. As she entered the kitchen, her breath caught as she saw the sunrise out the window. It was close to 4:30 now, and Alaskan sunrises happen around then in early or late summertime. Since Yvonne wasn't a morning person, she preferred the winter sunrises, as they didn't happen until eight or nine. Still, she had to admit, that the view in this moment was the definition of awesome. In the way the word was meant before it was degraded into merely a way to express the thought: "That's great!".

This view was truly a wonder to behold.

Yvonne stood there a moment longer and then went for her coffee pot. As the coffee brewed, she looked out the window once more. It was so beautiful. She had been taught in school about the big bang theory, and evolutionary thought, but she had never really bought it. Nothing this beautiful could have just happened. She knew it wasn't possible.

But she had never allowed herself to consider the possibilities of what that conviction meant. If she believed that the world did not come from nothing, then, logically, that meant she believed it came from something. Perhaps even Someone. But if she allowed herself to dwell on the answers to these questions, what would the results be? She didn't know. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

With a resigned sigh, Yvonne finished making her coffee, and sat down on the sofa to get back to work. The event her company was doing was requested by the CEO of some charity. They were throwing a ball to rival Cinderella's. And that meant that 300 centerpieces had to be made, (according to all the little quirks and wishes of said CEO). And Yvonne had been the lucky one assigned to that task. Which meant she was doing them all the time. Every spare moment she had for the next few days would be spent on these centerpieces.

She turned the TV on to her favorite show and settled in to her work. As she twisted all the little ribbons and ties, and glued on all the accents, she pondered why she was awake. Normally, Yvonne struggled to wake up anytime before eight. But hey, there was really no need to worry about that when getting the work done was what was important.

Yvonne froze. In her memories, she heard her mother saying something very similar when she was a child.

"What does it matter how the situation came to be? What's important is that the situation is upon you, Yvonne, and that it's now up to you how you deal with it."

Yvonne wiped away a tear. She had loved her mother so. Her father had died when she was very young, and it had been her mother who raised her. When Yvonne was eighteen, her mother remarried. Yvonne's stepfather was alright in his own way. He was a little odd. He had called himself a Christian, and had eventually converted her mother too. Then, a few years ago, her mother had been diagnosed with stage four cancer, and had died within months. Yvonne's twentieth birthday had been spent in the hospital with her mother and stepfather.

Even in the middle of their suffering, they had still thought to get her a birthday present. They had given her a Bible. She hadn't really wanted it, but she truly did appreciate it. It was the most treasured gift she had ever received. Because of the thought behind it and the circumstances around it. It was the last link she had to her family. Her stepfather had died shortly after her mother in a car accident.

Even though she had never actually read the Bible they had given her, she had kept it readily available, because she liked to be able hold it and think of them.

Tired of her labors, and bored with the television, Yvonne went back to the kitchen and refilled her coffee cup. She sat at the little round table by the window and looked out again. The sun was high in the sky now, and the ocean-view she had was amazing.

She felt restless. Nothing she could think of to do felt right. As she looked out the window, she thought again about her Bible.

She went to her bedside and got the Bible out of the dresser drawer. She ran her fingers along the cover as she brought it back to the kitchen and to her coffee. As she sat down, she felt a pull in her heart. She actually felt a desire to read the book in her hands.

She had always liked reading. So, she decided she would do it. She opened it and started from the beginning. As she cleared the first few chapters, it hardly made any sense. It was almost what she would describe as "magical". It very much reminded her of the types of things in C. S. Lewis's Narnia. As she went on, though, she realized that it was true. She felt in the core of her being that every word she was reading was, in fact, the truth.

Then she got to a part of the text that was strictly names. Like So-and-so was the son of So-and-so, and so on. That quickly became too boring, so she flipped through a little closer to the end. She stopped in the Gospel of John. She read through the entire story, and felt a stirring in her heart. As she looked out the window again, she began to cry. Not the sort of crying that comes from pain or sadness. But she was crying because she felt unworthy. She remembered all of the sins she had ever committed. And God really wanted to redeem her? She didn't deserve it. She was wretched, and she had no idea why a God like the one she had just read about would want anything to do with her.

But she had to admit she wanted it. She wanted the salvation she had just read about. But she still didn't feel ready. She continued reading, and by that afternoon, she knew all that she needed to know.

So, she got down on her knees and prayed.