Choosing Wonder Over Certainty
- Mary McCorvey
- Feb 13
- 2 min read
Originally published on Mary McCorvey's Substack.
The engine heat rolled over the track like a summer storm. I stood with a clipboard in my hand and a script in my head, the kind producers carry like armor. We had our projected winners and our planned beats. Then the green flag dropped, and the day wrote something better.
There is a hush that happens right before awe. Time thins. You stop narrating and you start seeing. That is where faith meets breath.
The core of it
Chapter 11 lives inside that hush. We were filming a motorsports round for a veteran’s competition, cameras humming, expectations lined up like cones. One competitor rolled to the start in a hand-controlled car, body rebuilt after war, spirit steady as a metronome. No one said it out loud, but certainty had already decided his place on the podium.
Then he moved. Clean. Focused. Every corner honest, every straightaway brave. When the clock stopped, the scoreboard told a different story than the one we had predicted. He had won. The crew went silent, then the cheers rose like a wave. I felt myself cross a finish line I did not know was there, from control into reverence.
That moment taught me something I keep relearning: certainty is tidy, wonder is true. Certainty stacks the deck with what we already believe. Wonder opens the door to what God can do when we stop pre-deciding the ending. Wonder does not embarrass you for being wrong. It invites you to be more alive.
Ever since, I try to leave room for awe in the places I want to manage. I still plan. I just hold the plan with open hands. I want to notice the unlikely victory, the quiet courage, the scene I would have missed if I stayed inside my outline.
Eheye’s Perspective
“Certainty asks to be right. Wonder asks to be present. One closes the story. The other makes room for a miracle.”
A gentle prompt for you
Where have you decided the ending too soon.
Name one place this week where you will trade prediction for presence.
Ask: what would I notice if I watched with curiosity instead of control.
How I’m holding this now
On the podcast, I listen for the turn, the moment a guest surprises even themselves. In my work, I set the structure, then I let the day breathe. At home, I am practicing small acts of wonder, stepping outside to see the sky before I open my laptop, blessing what is unexpected instead of resenting it. This has become a rhythm of faith for me, trusting that God is already at work in scenes I cannot stage.
A small invitation
If this moment speaks to you, the book goes even deeper. Get your copy of Experience Over Expectation and join me in choosing presence over performance. Get Yours on Amazon.
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