Occasionally in conversations, someone will say they are “wondering” about something, and my brain hears that they are “wandering” about it. Now sometimes that is logical although perhaps misinterpreted, as in they are wondering/wandering about, oh say, a park. Or the grocery.
Sometimes I do have a “wait…” moment. “That’s probably not right.” If I hear they are “wandering” about Estonia’s GDP or the total oil exports of Venezuela, great clue that I’ve either misheard or there are totally new adventures I haven’t really considered.
But sometimes the mixup not only makes some sense but also spurs me to consider a mental trip. Back in the day when I still did research as part of my career, mentally wandering around following secondary and tertiary information links was the norm. That kind of wandering helped me gain new knowledge, verify or question current knowledge, and sometimes just took me down a semi-interesting rabbit hole.
Now it keeps me from echo chamber thinking, helps me challenge what I think I know.
And often reveals to me very interesting connections I would have missed. This is particularly true when I am reading Scripture. The wandering through commentaries, archeological and cultural reference materials, and cross-references gives me a richer and deeper understanding of what I’ve been reading. It also keeps me from “checkmarking” my Scripture reading: “Welp. Waded through Leviticus for the year. Check.”
My mental wandering enhances my wonder, my faith base, my understanding.
Where are you wandering?
(Wyoming. In case you wandered off into the picture.)
Just Sayin' 