One day, while riding down the Colorado River, Amber Shannon suddenly realized her vocation. “I really wanted to row little wooden boats down big rapids with big canyon walls,” she says. “That was the life dream.”

Although it may sound impractical to some, tour guide John Shocklee calls being a boatman in the Grand Canyon “the most coveted job in the world.” “It’s definitely easier to get a PhD than it is to get a dory here in the Grand Canyon,” he says.

Learn more aboutShannon’sstory here:

The economies of wonder and creative service each have their own unique attributes demanding their own unique form of stewardship. But like all spheres of God’s creation, we also see plenty of connection and cross-pollination. Shannon feels called to a life of wonder, of pressing toward and immersing herself in close and challenging encounters with God’s creation. Yet in doing this, she also helps and guides others to experience and behold that same wonder. She works, and she serves.

Some might respond by saying that thework of dory-rowing is “useless,” and in a certain sense, they’d be right. But so what?

As Evan Koons reminds us, there’s a bigger picture to God’s creation than some humanity-wide conquest for utilitarian gain. “There’s more to the story than what we do and create,” he says. “Maybe understanding God’s Economy of Wonder and living it out starts with beholding the master of the universe and his unwarranted, gratuitous gift of everything that exists.”

God has given us much that exists simply for our time and attention, and he gave it to us for a reason. Learning to both work and rest within useless, gratuitous wonder means further understanding the full character of God and the shape and aim of his love, expanding our imaginations, stirring our hearts, refining our palates, and tuning our ears.

Being good stewards of this space is bound to feel “useless,” particularly in our age of shortcuts and convenience. And yet, despite the callof peting pressures, priorities, and distractions — some worthier than others —the flourishing of allelsedepends on it.