Delighted

To be honest, I don’t really care for that word.

Delighted.

I hear it and I think,

That’s what happens when I turn off the lights, the room becomes DE-LIGHTED.

Yes I am a dad.

Yes I make jokes.

I know what I’m about.

The word delighted means highly pleased. This seems like a high bar.

I used to take my oldest daughter for breakfast at a place called Downers Delight. We loved the place, but I thought that was a weird name. Maybe that’s where my feelings toward the word were formed, but who can say for certain.

I think there can be a fine line between being an optimist and a pessimist, and I waver on that line.

I’m surely not an optimist, but I also don’t think I’m Robby Rotten.  I struggle with the idea of being highly pleased with something.

I just ordered a hot apple cider from my favorite writing place and the drink is pretty good. I’m happy with it. I’m just not sure I’m delighted.

Recently I had a helpful conversation with someone who has walked with Jesus for a very long time. She helps me identify and respond to the ways God is working in my life and my chats with her are a gift.

I shared a few things I’ve been working on and she said it sounds like you’re finding delight in these things.

I bristled.

I don’t care for that word.

More than that, I push back on the idea that I’m highly pleased.

Things can always be better.

I can fix it, improve it, change it a bit more.

I have a problem.

In the Bible, there’s a story in Luke chapter 13 about Jesus healing a woman paralyzed by arthritis.

She could not stand straight. She met Jesus. She stood straight.

Jesus fixes things better than I do. Better than you do as well.

The religious people argued with Jesus for healing this woman on the Sabbath. He pointed out just how silly they were being.

The Bible says after this conversation, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Delighted. By all God was doing.

They chose to enjoy the moment. To find joy in the wonder they were witnessing.

Their eyes could have drifted to themselves, their focus on their own circumstances.

Instead, they were delighted.

They were highly pleased with all the wonderful things he [Jesus] was doing.

I look around and I see what’s wrong. I fixate on what’s broken.

There’s a lot broken in this world.

I do not need to elaborate on this. Brokenness abounds.

Maybe it’s favorable to be fascinated while marching through the madness.

Perhaps it’s desirable to find delight while cruising through this craziness.

The people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

I don’t want to always be enraged, disappointed, annoyed.

I long to choose joy. The embrace delight.

Even if I still don’t care for that word.