Casey Tygrett - Becoming Curious: A Spiritual Practice of Asking Questions

As I write this foreword, our home is in the middle of a massive renovation. The entire main floor has been taken down to the studs and is slowly being rebuilt. We live in an older home, and that usually means you run into a lot of surprises. We certainly have. Those surprises usually involve more costs and delaying the project. It certainly has. One evening, just as the workers were about to leave, I peered through an opening cut in the floor. Beneath it was a crawl space. I saw a reflection. I got a flashlight and looked down. There was water. I dropped a rock down and heard a plop. The water was four inches deep, in a crawl space of around 150 square feet. I felt a pit in my stomach. The worker said to me, This isnt good. The foreman came over and walked me through ways to solve the problem. They all cost more money and would delay the project.

After he left, I walked around the entire main floor and stopped to look at everything that had gone wrong. With each pace my frustration increased. Over and over I muttered, Why did we do this project? We should have listed it. An hour later my wife, Meghan, came home. She had been gone a few days. I took her to the crawl space, and showed her the water. She calmly said, Well, we just have to get it fixed. Then she looked up to see the progress that had been made. The open concept was finally opened, and she could see what it was going to look like. She smiled and said, Isnt this beautiful? I said, No, its awful, and this whole project has been a disaster. She disagreed.

Remember the day we walked into this home? We both turned to each other and said, My soul feels right in this house. Lets make it our home. We love this home. Lets keep on loving it.

The next day I began reading this book.

By the time I had finished, something inside of me had changed: my attitude. I walked down to the main floor and looked at the space with new eyes. I was not upset or frustrated. I looked at every nook and cranny with curiosity and wonder. I saw possibilities, not problems. I wondered about the history of the home. I knew it was built in 1940. I thought about what life was like for the builders and for the family that first inhabited it. America had not yet entered WWII. I wondered if they were nervous about the state of the world, if they or someone they knew fought in the war. Having thought about the past, I began to think about our future in this house.

I walked into each space with curiosity about the future. What conversations would be held here? I imagined the space filled with laughter, the smells of delicious food, and quiet evenings by the fireplace. I imagined one day meeting my childrens future spouses, and my future grandchildren coming into this space. I imagined them saying, Wow, this is beautiful! The place was transfigured. I was on sacred ground. I could feel it. I smiled.

I love it when I read those rare books that forever change you. For me, some of those books include C. S. Lewiss Mere Christianity, Richard Fosters Celebration of Discipline, Dallas Willards The Divine Conspiracy, St. Teresas Interior Castle, and Hans Urs von Balthasars Love Alone Is Credible. The one in your hands is now added to the list. It disarmed me. It humbled me. It exposed the absurdity of need for control, and created a longing in me to become as a child on Christmas morning or at Disney World. It reminded me that Christianity is not about dogma or doctrine or rules. Christianity is based on a magnificent Story that we get to enter. It is about entering the true Magic Kingdom, an interactive life with the Author of the Story.

This book will teach you how to see the world with childlike wonder, give you boldness to ask God for what you want, confirm your identity in Christ, and help you see the why of your life, not just the what and the how. It will help you to see others in a new way, to embrace even your failures, to rewire the way you think about rituals, and to increase your ability to forgive and to raise questions. But what I most want to say to you is this: let this book help you to embrace the gift of curiosity.

Casey Tygrett is a fine man, passionate pastor, and a very good writer. This book had the power to lift my spirit in the midst of discouraging circumstances. It reminded me that I need to let go of my expectations, my plans, and my desires in order to see the world afresh and aglow with the grandeur of God. So I commend the wise purchase of this book, and I leave you with a benediction written by Larry Hein:

May all your expectations be frustrated.

May all your plans be thwarted.

May all your desires be withered into nothingness.

That you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing, dance, and trust in the love of God who is Father, Son, and Spirit.

Amen.

He has been waiting all year for this very moment.

The cold of the house is strong, the light-streaked wood floors creaking with every step as a little boy creeps toward the warm light of the family room.

Put this boy (or girl)wrinkled pajamas and reddened cheeksin your mind. Remember when you were there, aching for what you think you know, but dont know. Remember all the assumptions, desires, hopes, and fears of all the years that would hopefully be met under the tree that day.

To be sure, Christmas morning comes differently to children.

Children come wide open and breathless, while adults are grasping for the coffee and cameras, handling all the details. Children dive foolishly into the packages as if no one is watching. Adults look for a trash bag, trying to bring order out of the chaos. Kids give little thought to what their flourish looks like to others, they only hope for what might be waiting.

They want to know. They want to tear through that paper and satisfy their curiosity.

What will it be like?

What will it feel like to hold it?