HP7 and the sense of wonder

Having said that I've found Harry Potter in too many places, sure enough this morning it was the topic of our senior minister's weekly online newsletter. He was arguing against a columnist who asked the buzz question, "Who dies in HP7" (see? I've learned the shorthand in spite of myself) with one word--"God." Tim argued that, on the contrary, the Harry Potter books are very spiritual, if not in traditional terms of any major religion. They reflect mankind's craving for assurance of something larger outside ourselves, some higher power or being. "The world is starving for wonder," Tim wrote, and I stopped dead in my tracks. We hear that all about us--from sermons in church to corny email chains on recapturing the wonder of childhood and innocence.
For me, personally, the question made me think about what I'm writing or trying to write. There's little sense of wonder in cozy mysteries, which I keep trying to write, or even in biographies of famous people, meant for youngsters to read. Sometimes there may be wonder in a book colum, as in "I wonder why THAT ever got published!" or there's wonder in gossip, "Wonder what ever happened to so and so . . . ." But of course that's not the same thing. But I began to think about how that might apply to me. I have a friend who is always having epiphanies, those little life-changing moments. In truth, I think any of us have them only rarely--but maybe this was one for me. Maybe it was a message about my writing.
Yesterday I returned a reader's report to an author, with suggestions for rewriting. By late afternoon, he was emailing me with questions about the rewrite--should he have this character do this or that, should this happen that way. Reluctantly I put him in touch with the reader, but I also told him that I am a great believer in letting things simmer on the back burner of your brain. So that's what I'm going to do with this thought about wonder and writing--let is simmer while I clear out all the ordinary writing chores on my desk.