Delight!

We bypass sacred moments each and every day – inconspicuous expressions from God. Gifts of Divine joy, packaged in the ordinary and the mundane.

These gifts would have moved us or delighted us were we still children. But, as adults, they often get crowded out.

Everything feels urgent. Life feels desperate. We are constantly hustling. Scrambling. Trying to secure “success” for ourselves, for our families, for our children.

The first refrain of Ecclesiastes carefully considers this desperate hustle and tersely throws it under foot:

“Everything is meaningless – it is chasing after the wind.”

If we read on we get a more textured explanation: Nothing you worry about is unique to you. It has all been done before. It will all be done again. And when you die, everything you were striving for will be out of your hands.

What, then, is the point?

The second refrain gives us the answer:

God has given you enjoyment in eating and drinking, your work and play – finding delight and communion with Him in these ordinary things is a gift from Him, to you!

Go, eat your bread with pleasure,
and drink your wine with a cheerful heart,
for God has already accepted your works.
Let your clothes be white all the time,
and never let oil be lacking on your head.
Enjoy life with the spouse you love all the days of your fleeting life.
– Ecclesiastes 9:7-9a

An adult sense of "have to" often crowds out the "gets to" aspect of being God's children.

And our hustle – even if we believe it is for our children's sake – may be the very thing keeping us from truly engaging them.

A pace of life allowing for wonder and delight – joy in the ordinary and expecting God in the mundane – is a legacy we can mentor our children into, merely by making it our priority.

We almost never think of the present,
and if we do think of it,
it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future.

The present is never our end.
Thus we never actually live,
but [only] hope to live.
– Blaise Pascal