To Delight

By preaching to us His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reveals to us something about existence: it is delightful. Further, He delights in us, that’s why He bothered to be like us, teach us, and save us! The world is suffering a scarcity of attention and delight. But how do we delight? What does that mean? 

To delight is not merely to look at something. It is to be caught up in something and experience it. Not as an observer, but an active participant.  

To delight in someone is to approach them as they are. To experience and participate in their identity as a child of God. 

What do we delight in? A good way to tell is to ask “what is it that so engages us that we lose track of time?” We can call this “getting lost” in something.

Now to delight in someone is not to put on rose-colored glasses whenever they are around, to create illusions and ignore flaws. Delight experiences what is there. The wonder and glory of God’s creation. 

A good way to practice the capacity to delight in others is to practice delight in other greater things. Let us choose to give time to greater things, and if need, take time from lesser goods, like screens. To practice delight, try taking a break from screens which easily fools us into thinking that screen visuals are the same as being with the thing on the screen. God is always calling us to choose greater goods. So today, sacrifice the artifice of screen time to delight in what is real: family, friends, nature, God. Let us spend our time and attention with these, and not our screens.