Delight contains an element of spontaneity. Delight is like a surprise present that life offers just when you need a small dose of wonder and awe to get through life’s daily demands. Though delight cannot be planned, and most likely resists scheduling, it may be essential to make space for delight to be recognized in our daily lives. Authentic delight is a blessing, a motivator, and an anchor to life’s charms. It is an opportunity to fall in love with life again for a moment.
What delights you? Reflecting on these questions may take you to locations in your life where you experience delight. My mind dashes to thoughts of the spring woods for blossoming, finding phlox abound, or shared laughter with friends or watching children explore the world.
There are the locations where delight frequents, places and people we can seek out when we need delight. Notwithstanding these locations, can we find delight in harder locations? Finding delight in more mundane places in life might require utilizing the spiritual practices of intention and gratitude. What delights you about your routine or chores? What delights you about emails?
Each time I open my email and find that someone, one of you from this remarkable church has said “yes” to helping co-create our life-giving faith community, I find delight, I feel a little over-the -moon. It immediately makes me smile and I sometimes even gasp, “Oh good,” especially if it is an enthusiastic “YES!”. It is so much more than another task completed; it is the joy that comes from being on a team of people sharing a common purpose.
Ushers, sound techs, livestream operators, choir members, musicians, worship associates, potluck bringers, event planners, committee members, all the RE volunteers and more. It takes a lot of “Yeses” to make First Church the welcoming and vibrant community that it is. Each of us serves each other our gifts, creating space for delight.
A few weeks ago, someone visited our church for the first time. I had the privilege of showing a new person around while I told them about many of the programs we run at church. “I feel like this cannot be real, this is something I dreamt about finding. You all are magic.” Their delight was palpable, and I thought yes, this shared gift is a kind of magic.
Thank you all, for being co-creators and guardians of delight here at First Church. The world needs us, as we need each other. May we all continue to be blessings to one another.
Rev. Kimberlee
Minister of Religious Education