Clergy from left, Pastor Deb Church, Deacon Amy Schmuck, The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, The Rev. Lynn Finnegan, Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired, and Pastor Nicolé Raddu Ferry. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com
By Pastor Lynn Finnagan
Associate Priest
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith
Santa Fe
Delight. Sheer delight. That is the best description of the look on my three-year-old granddaughter’s face as she anticipated the balloon I was about to toss her. It was a simple game and a simple balloon. Standing just a few feet apart, we lobbed the purple balloon back and forth in an activity that never seemed to tire her. Each time, just before I sent the balloon her way, I paused for a moment to look at the delight and excitement in her eyes. It was magical.
How often do you stop and consider the delight in your life? In her book, A Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh takes advantage of a brief solitary stay at the beach to contemplate “my own individual balance of life, work and human relationships.” With a husband and five children, her life is one of “multiplicity” that “entrains a whole caravan of complications”. She catalogues these complications over several pages, lamenting all the distractions she endures.
The book was written in 1955. 1955! Oh, the multiplicity of complications and distractions in our world that have only exploded since that time. Lindbergh has no easy solution to her desire for balance in her world of multiplicity, but she does discover a possible path forward. Delight.
She walks the beach, finding pleasure in carefully examining each shell found along the shore, delighting in its uniqueness and beauty. She chooses a whelk to bring home to place on her desk, aware her beach time is a brief respite, and that she will need a reminder of her delight.
Balloons. Shells. What gives you delight? Where do you see it? Delight can be found in multiplicity: the satisfaction of solving a complex mystery. Most often, though, it is found in simplicity: the cool of a breeze, the smell of a rose, the taste of a chocolate cake, the wag of a dog’s tail, the touched cheek by a loved one. When we are children, our delight comes easily.
Adults, unfortunately, often do not find it unless they pause long enough to look for it. Delight also goes hand in hand with gratitude. Gratitude goes hand in hand with praise for the God who delights in us and desires our delight in him. As theologian C.S. Lewis wrote, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” We can’t help but praise and rejoice in what delights us: the enjoyment is stunted if it is never expressed in joyful celebration. It is one thing to share our delight with others, but it is an even greater joy to express our delight through praise and gratitude for the one who instilled the delight in us in the first place.
Once delight is paired with gratitude and praise, it becomes less elusive. In fact, it becomes downright embarrassingly abundant. Step one: Pause. Step two: Delight. Step three: Gratitude. Step four: Praise. That’s it. Find your balloon or your shell or whatever passes your way on any given day, at any given time. Delight is waiting for you.
Editor’s note: ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a column written by local women clergy including ELCA Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div., retired (czoebidd@gmail.com); Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (pastornicole@bethluth.com); Associate Priest Lynn Finnegan, The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith, Santa Fe (rev.lynn@holyfaithchurchsf.org); Pastor Deb Church, White Rock Presbyterian Church (pastor@wrpchurch.com) and The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Rector, Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church (momaryannhill@gmail.com).
