20 years & 1000 words

What does it mean to truly, joyfully delight in the Lord? That was the question posed when it was debated that joy is the opposite of fine and mundane, not the opposite of depressed or terrible. What does it look like to seek joy and fulfillment while loving God and loving others? Where must the attention dwell? Where might time be used? Relationships grown? Opportunities arise? Logistics dissolved?

God, what is delight in you? 

Crawling up on your big and mighty lap, allowing for a Holy embrace that is so anything but narcissistic because it explodes and dispenses grace to others in the exact, specific means created at that moment? Living fully aware and fully connected to the points that we do well. What an idea!

It is strange to consider the life of an idea. It’s original inception as a passing thought. The wonder of what it might be. The ridiculousness of its execution. Dismissing it as nonsense.

But then something happens. Something changes. Encouragement spoken. Encouragement heard. Encouragement received. Encouragement believed. It’s the belief that’s hard. Opening up to rejection. Failure. Embarrassment. Someone saying it’s silly or stupid, or even worse, silent, suffocated, stale. Those fears aren’t exposed as fears. No, that’s immature. Fears show a flaw. Fear is a lack of trust in the Great Big Living God who created. Fear does not reflect risk and adventure. Fear is contradictory to trying new things, writing better stories and living to the fullest. Fear traps. Fear destroys. Fear insults.

So these fears get grown up words. They become excuses. The words change. They attain a costume of descriptives to fool those around us to prevent the vulnerable from colliding with the audience watching.

But when ideas escape that which entangles them and are able to grow up into great big delight and joy, that’s when the good stuff happens. The really good stuff. The stories told over and over again. Stories in which delight is discovered.