Holy Curiosity
“We awaken to truth by beginning with questions, not answers. Every deepening of the soul begins with wonder.” Parker Palmer
This past weekend, my niece came to visit, along with her two-and-a-half-year-old son. Besides being completely exhausted when they left (and in awe of her superhuman mommy patience), I was struck by one thing in particular: the questions. So many questions. What’s this? Why that? What are you doing?
I have never answered so many questions in a single day. We may have broken a Guinness World Record. His curiosity was bottomless.
Somewhere along the way in my own life, I stopped asking so many questions. Growing up, I absorbed the idea that Christianity was mostly about having the right answers. I was even on the Bible quiz team at my church. Later, when I went to seminary I had enough youthful arrogance to imagine that I now knew all the answers. As my answers increased, my curiosity diminished. Curiosity isn’t highly valued in a culture that prizes certainty.
In Matthew 18, Jesus says, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” I don’t pretend to know everything Jesus meant, but spend five minutes with a toddler and you’ll notice some things: trust, dependence, a wild sense of wonder. They don’t pretend to know everything, and they’re not embarrassed to ask. Their curiosity flows from a sense of security and openness.
What if childlike faith isn’t about knowing more, but trusting deeper? What if curiosity is one of the most sacred expressions of that trust?
Imagine the shape our faith might take if we felt free to ask real questions. We might be less anxious about figuring everything out. We could feel more open to learning from people who believe differently than we do. We might begin to see God not as a distant authority demanding certainty, but as a loving presence inviting discovery.
Confusion, questioning, doubting is not foreign to the biblical text. Job poured out his grief and confusion. Mary asked the angel, “How can this be?” Thomas doubted openly and was not met with shame, but with an invitation to come closer. The Psalms are full of raw and unsettling questions, yet they remain the prayer book of the Bible.
God is not afraid of our questions. He welcomes them.
Spiritual Direction can be a safe place to explore your questions. You don’t have to clean up your theology to be welcomed. Sometimes the most fruitful spiritual growth begins when we stop pretending and start wondering. Maybe your curiosity is a sign that you are moving toward a deeper faith. Maybe God is inviting you into something more spacious, more honest, and more alive.
