As a kid I had little motivation when it came to study and academics. That all changed when as a young college student I finally came to realize I had a purpose for being on this planet, and God quickened my heart to prepare myself for life.The desire for preparation he sparked in me was not merely task based or even vocation based. Once God made it clear to me that all of this world and my little life had meaning and significance, it all came alive in a wonderful way. Almost in a blink, my heart was hungry, my mind was engaged, and my passions for taking on an adventure of study were kindled.I cannot fathom a life without the gift of learning. I cannot imagine, nor dare to try, what life would be like as a mature (I should use that word loosely I suppose) adult, to just allow my days to pass by without being fully aware, and fully interacting with the world around me. This place is magical. It convinces me, in the words of G.K. Chesterton, that there must be a “magician” behind it all.The truth of God seen in the artistry of a symphony, the blades of grass in a field, the shimmering diamond-like quality of a snowflake glistening in the air as the sun strikes it just so, the innocent laugh of a child in the throws of simple ecstasy, the wonder of a profound truth explained by a gifted orator… these things convince me that behind the facts we find a Maker.After spending years as an agnostic, and upon coming to a place where his thoughts led him to consider reality for the first time, to consider why this world is here at all in all its marvels, Chesterton put it this way,”This was my first conviction; made by the shock of my childish emotions meeting the modern creed in mid-career. I had always felt facts to be miracles in the sense that they are wonderful; now I began to think them miracles in the stricter sense that they were willful. I mean that they were, or might be, repeated exercises of some will.In short, I had always believed that the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician…that this world of ours has some purpose, and if a purpose, there is a person behind the purpose. I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story, there is a story-teller.”I do not know where you are today on your journey, in your story. I do know that your story will take on much deeper meaning and adventure when and if you wake up to the world and events around you and truly engage. Take time to study it out. Search out the truths which bring life into greater clarity. Find how God’s wisdom comes to bear on relationships, politics, health, pleasure, family, romance, medical ethics, music, nature, beauty, and on and on. It is not merely an exercise in growing one’s mind (though there is much value in that), rather, it is a thrilling process whereby you soul is quickened to the magical hand of a loving Creator who has much for us to experience. This becomes critically important as you seek to fulfill your calling and lead others to embrace your vision. People follow intelligent, capable, thoughtful, prepared, aware, mindful, and joyously “measured” leaders.If you are seeking to bring a greater sense of magic and meaning into your own life, hear the call which came to Saint Augustine, “Take up and read!” Put some time into opening the books, opening your life to new areas of experience, culture, and expression. Take in all this amazing God has given us to enjoy. Drop the common and lazy preoccupations of a distracted, crude, and slothful world, and enter into the journey full throttle.There is magic in the air. Have you seen it?