You are a Delight

This is fourth of five blogs about my recent trip to the Seattle area.

I stole up to her bedroom door and quietly opened it. Little Eden – almost 3 years old – popped up and said that heart-melting word, “Grandma!”And with that we hugged. Downstairs, five-week-old Miranda moved her tiny fingers and looked at me with her little sweet eyes. Another heart-melting moment for Grandma. 

What is it about little ones that touches our hearts…and even makes us act like children once again? When I’m with my grandkids, I find myself dancing, or singing, or racing cars. I delight in imaginative play as we share time together. Somehow paperwork and phone calls lose a great deal of interest when my grandchildren want to be explorers or ballerinas, or wants me to watch as they bob a balloon on their leg. Being with these precious children brings a sense of refreshment to my soul.

And it’s clear that they so often are delighted to spend time with me.

This recent visit with the little granddaughters, and my daily experience of having my grandsons in my home, prompts me to reflect on my relationship with God. Am I refreshed in the same way when I spend time with him? Am I invigorated because we have been together? Do I have a sense of delight in being with my Heavenly Father?

I don’t know about you, but that last one can be kind of tough for me. I often experience his guidance and love in ways that are comforting. But delight? I realize that I don’t often consider this aspect of my relationship with God…but increasingly I think this is something significant I need to develop more.

I don’t have to work at delight with my grandkids, and I don’t think I should have to work at being with God. In both cases, I just need to be intentional about choosing to connect, then look for the joy that naturally can occur as we connect.

And just as my grandkids find delight in me, I need to realize that my loving Father delights to spend time with me. So I can learn to feel God’s pleasure as I spend time with him. I can feel his pleasure as I talk with him about all that I experience; all that I love; all that I wonder about. So rather than just pray through lists of requests, I find myself telling him about I task I need to do or a problem I need to solve. I talk about my passion for carousels and kayaking, for reading and writing, for studying and learning. 

On it goes, as I take time to delight in him. And I experience a great sense of joy, knowing that he delights in me. 

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

Join me as we find delight in God, and experience his delight in us.

Let me pray for you. Dear Jesus, I pray that the readers of this blog would come to a greater understanding of your exuberant delight in them as your children. Help them to share their moments with you – the easy ones, the tough ones and even the mundane ones. Give them a sense of your gladness at who you’ve made them to be, and that you are so joyful about them that you want to sing over them…just like a mother (or grandmother!) would do with her child. Help them to delight in you…and to truly know that you delight in them. In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.