Purveyors of Awe: Delight
How precious is your love! Whether creatures of heaven or children of earth, we all find refuge in the shadow of your wings. We feast on the bounty of your estate, and drink from the stream of your delights. In you is the wellspring of Life, and in your light we become enlightened. – Psalm 3 excerpts/ poetry
(Video of Owen laughing)
As much as I love avocado, it would not cause me to laugh like that! Don’t babies have the most delightful giggles? They know how to take pleasure in the simplest things! Which leads me to our question for the day… what brings you delight?
When I was a child and teen, my grandparents took me on their annual vacation. Every year, they spent a week going somewhere different, and then they spent another week in the Big Thompson Canyon between Estes Park and Loveland, Colorado. My grandparents lived a fairly simple life (by choice). Papa was a contractor. Grandma was his bookkeeper and a homemaker. They lived way beneath their means and saved money. Their two weeks’ vacation was also simple, but it was deliberately filled with delight:
· The simple pleasures of mountain beauty
· The joy of catch and release fishing
· Playing cards with friends in a mountain setting at a picnic table
· Eating Grandma’s homemade cooking out of her electric skillet at the motel where we stayed instead of going out to eat
· Driving instead of flying
· Basking in the wildflowers and winding mountain roads and in the Rocky Mountain National Park
· Not shopping or exploring the cities – but staying in the rural areas just enjoying the views
· Taking pictures and oohing and ahhhing at any wildlife, like deer, elk, chipmunks, and the wonders of tundra, the mountain tree line, and other differences between landscapes between Kansas and Colorado.
To them, this was what filling their empty tank from a year of hard work was all about – taking delight in the majesty of God’s creation.
What fills your delight tank?
· The laughter of children
· Fresh flowers of spring
· A soaring hawk/ bald eagle
· A drink of cold, clear water
· A beautiful Kansas sunrise or sunset
Dacher Keltner wrote, “Our tears register our awareness of vast things that unite us with others. Our goose bumps accompany notions of joining with others and facing mysteries and unknowns together. Today we may sense these laws of bodily awe when moved by a favorite musical group, or in calling out in protest with others in the streets, or in bowing our heads together in contemplation. And in such rushes of tears and chills... we may glean a sense of what our souls might be.”
Are you like me? I store up these moments of delight in a tank and save them for moments when I need inspiration desperately. When I am down and out in the middle of a winter storm or a bleak moment of life, I call on my delight filled tank, and I pull something from that delight and try to recall the goosebumps from the memory of that delight!
Did you know that by recalling the feeling of sitting at the pool or on the beach, you can actually change the temperature of cold fingers? Yes! Did you know that by concentrating on relaxation or massage, you can change the tension in your muscles? Yes! It is a mind-over-matter physiological matter! By using your delight tank, you can change your frame of mind. It is a spiritual truth. We can create delight in our lives.
As you may know, Eric and I were recently in Finland: the happiest country in the world. Oh, I had so many questions about why they are happy! My first question was this: why are they happy when they have so much winter and so many cold temperatures? Well, the answer is that they decide to be happy! They create happiness. Our guide taught us about the silly and creative things they do….
Such as:
- Putting on dresses and high heals and then snow skis in the spring when all the snow melts… and skiing the swamps! It’s true – and you can google it on YouTube. It’s hilarious. Both men and women compete in dresses and stiletto heels on snow skis and then ski the swamps into the mud. Why? For silly fun. Just for fun.
- Now, try this one with me. Pick someone near you or two people to partner with. This is a Finnish game. Turn toward each other and belly laugh for 30 seconds. Don’t look around or time yourselves. Just spend 30 seconds laughing at each other for no reason – fake laugh. I’ll time you. Go.
Next, spend 30 seconds looking at each other without laughing. I will time you again. Don’t look away from each other. Try to make the other person laugh, but do not laugh yourself. Whoever laughs first, loses.
This is a game that Finns play in the winter to pass the time. They play it several rounds. It helps the time pass. And it is better than drinking yourself to oblivion.
Taking delight in things is a choice and a challenge. What fills your delight tank? Do you take time to fill it regularly?
Jesus went to the mountaintop to pray. He encouraged his disciples to do the same. God gave us this creation to enjoy and to relish. It is for our delight. Are we taking delight in the creation? Are we walking enough; swimming enough; using our eyes and ears and taste buds enough? Can we build in some more delight in our lives? This week, take a moment of awe and fill that delight tank!
- Take a drive in the country or delight in some flowers!
- Enjoy a walk at Botanica or listen to a piece of music.
- Laugh for no reason; fill your heart with poetry.
- Call an old friend; reminisce with someone you haven’t talked to in a while.
- Color a picture like you did when you were a child; work a puzzle.
- Pet a cat or a dog; sing with abandon.
- Eat your favorite food; read for no reason.
- Stay up late watching a movie; bask in the sun.
Fill your delight tank and dance with abandon and know that you are loved! For God gave us the capacity to love, dance and enjoy all that is! We were made to delight in all that we have been given. Amen and amen!