...delight

...the Lord delights in you!
                      Isaiah 62:4

some things bring a smile to our face
and make us happy

morning sun on the first day of March!



seeing our grandchild play with the laundry basket
that our children played with when they were little
     a basket I bought way back...when I was in college!?!?



a perfect loaf of gluten-free spelt bread
after several frustrating trys!

cousin visits in the afternoon

but delight...
is not the same as happiness
it isn't necessarily caused by some thing

it has more to do with having...
great joy!
sheer pleasure
simple satisfaction

I had a brief glimmer of what God's delight for us might be
the other morning as I sat on the floor
just watching the little bambino do every little thing he does...

we weren't engaged in active play...
but he definitely had my uttmost attention!
[he has a way of captivating me that way]

all distractions fall away
and I simply watch him

how he so carefully turns the pages of his little board books
and ooohs and aaahs at the images
as they change before his eyes
his little hands and fingers so precious
his sounds so sweet
his curiosity so inspiring

then on to the doors
swinging them open
pushing them closed
open
close
again his little fingers
so careful not to get pinched

then the stairs
up down
up down

then emptying his toy box
making things squeek
and making the appropriate car noises
while pushing things around

he 'is' delightful!

not because of what he is doing
but because he is!

when he was newborn
I oohed and aahed over him...
and he did nothing yet...
but he was...
so simply beautiful, perfect, precious

I am simply delighted in him!

I realized...I was smiling....

I realized
he is delighted in his little life
in every ordinary little thing he encounters
over and over
day after day

we pass thru doors
run up stairs
flip thru catalogues
without a thought

we have lost our delight
in the everyday
in the world
in our lives
in the creation our God has given us

we move through our whole life
without the realization
that our God delights over us!

even though that Isaiah verse is one I have clung to
over the years
have I ever truly understood
or known His delight?!?!?

It's not about what I do somehow entertaining our God
although I'm sure He gets His share of laughter
out of my shenanigans

It's simpler
purer than that

I am His creation
He made me
...to love
and to know His love
now and for ever....

our little grandson isn't even 'my creation'
I had nothing to do with him!?!?
yet I feel such sheer simple pleasure...I smile

[maybe that's why I can feel such delightful abandon
with him...
with our own children
there was so much more of a sense of responsibility
no having fun!??!?
it was our 'job' to somehow raise healthy, happy, productive children?!?!?]

and maybe in that same way I have been trying before God
   trying to be a good steward of this body
   trying to be joyful
   trying to always do the right thing

and maybe all that is needed is to notice every little thing around me
to delight in all that He has given
to be grateful for this very life
...this eternal life...

and to know His delight!

maybe this little one
will teach me

this time around