The Mystery of Delight!

In a moment of word-filled emotion I wrote, “Delight is the sweet scent of
flowers, the texture of deep blue velvet, the eye-filling extraordinary sights
of rainbows, sunsets and sunrises, plus colors of spring and fall rolled into
one awesome vista. Delight accompanies the melody of love, so scintillating.”

In every day life, Delight descends upon me through the words of my husband of
62 ½ years. I am soaking his foot to remove a callus, feeding him his midday
meal, taking his blood pressure, giving him his eye-drops and then he
remembers.  He speaks of the delight of our marriage – from the first
moment he saw me. He delights in how I take care of him. He speaks through the constant
haze of moderate dementia. He speaks of the feeling of timidity and awe of the
responsibility he felt as we began to build our relationship as husband and
wife. I thank God that he remembers and can still voice his love for me after
so many years together.

Yes, there is much to delight in around us in this world. Fortunes disappear;
houses fall into heaps of rubbish, cars rust. Fame is fleeting. What then is
there to delight in that is lasting? The answer is love and the relationships
that love begets. I Corinthians 13:13 – Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and
the greatest of these is love.

How do we recognize Delight? Dr. Larry Crabb, in his book Connecting: Healing Ourselves and our Relationships, describes the
relationship, connection. How does a relationship begin? What do we see in
someone else that precedes a relationship.  After I read this illustration, I will ever
think of the physical body-language that grows into a delight-filled relationship.
“Brennan told me of his spiritual director’s curious habit of hopping three
times whenever he saw Brennan after an extended absence. He jumped up and down
with delight.” A year later my wife and I tumbled out of a crowded elevator
into the hotel lobby teeming with conference participants. “I caught a glimpse of Brennan’s white hair
and unmistakable smile. He turned and saw us. Immediately he jumped up and
down. I was warmed to the bottom of my heart.”

Romans 15:7, “Therefore,
accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given
glory.”  Imagine with me Our
Lord Jehovah’s Delight as we come to Him. Does He give a hop of joy? Do
we?  We are His creation. We often see
ourselves as unworthy of His Love. He gave His Son as our Savior, that we may
enjoy an eternal relationship with God our Father.

He delights in us. We wonder why. The Bible tells us. Oh, it tells us why. And
each verse creates a closer relationship with us. As He delights in us, we also
learn to delight in Him, who is our life, our joy and our all in all. Larry
Crabb writes that there are three elements of relationship.  1.  The
first element is a taste of Christ delighting in us. We love
each other because he loved us first. 
I John 4:19.  We love each other because we see His Love in others,
and this is what we want in our lives. 
This brings change in our relationships with others.

In her last days, my Mom often said, “God spoils me so much.”  Then I couldn’t understand how she could
consider having a terminal disease as being spoiled.  Then I read… Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm
37:4