Delighted!

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Ray and I are heading back to Tennessee this morning. We have been visiting our son John and his family this weekend with the main purpose of meeting our precious new grandbaby Toby. Needless to say, we were delighted.

I am still floating on delight as we head back home. I’ve rocked and sung. Toby has looked me in the eye and smiled. He’s fallen asleep in my arms. He’s been adorable. He’s tiny and precious and perfect.

We’ve enjoyed Toby’s family, too — his daddy John, his mama Audra, and his big brother Henry.

I’ve been thinking about the idea of delighted this weekend. Everyday we have the opportunity to be delighted and to let that delight show in our interactions with others.

My young friend Jen came to our house last week. When I opened the door, I stood there instead of wrapping her in my arms with a hug the way I usually do. Realizing that it had been an awkward moment for both of us, I soon told her that I had a cold and didn’t hug her because I didn’t want to give it to her. She is used to my being delighted to see her and I think she was a bit taken aback upon our first greeting. I was delighted; I just didn’t show it the way I usually do.

Every child deserves to see delight in his or her parents’ eyes first thing every morning. Sometimes that stretches us a bit. Maybe our child is up way earlier than we had hoped or maybe his nose is running or maybe she is grouchy. If we aren’t careful, we might show our feelings about what we are about to have to do instead showing the delight we really do feel deep inside.

Not every mama grew up with a delighted mama herself and that makes being delighted a bit more challenging. Still, the skill can be learned. One of the many courses in Christian living and communication and marriage that Ray and I have taken along the way taught us to act our way into a better way of feeling. I think the world gets those the other way around too much. If we aren’t careful, we may act the way we feel. I’m certainly guilty of that. That’s okay when our feelings are positive, but it doesn’t work so well in relationships when our feelings aren’t so positive.

I think two keys to being delighted are recognizing the worth of other people and recognizing our worth in the eyes of our Father.

The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
Psalm 37:23

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