Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with…The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in Reflections on the Psalms (Orlando: Harvest, 1964) 95-96.
As I begin my exploration of enjoyment just before boarding our flights to San Francisco, then Sydney, and on to Auckland, two things are clear. Only when we have God as our chief delight, can we enjoy anything rightly; otherwise things become idols to us, and we become a slaves to them!
Alternatively, when God is our chief delight, our enjoyment completes our praise to Him. Today we are enjoying the fruit of my frequent travel. To those have ever cashed in miles, you will appreciate this: I used miles to upgrade our roundtrip flights between San Francisco and Sydney, Australia.
What’s so cool is that because I have flown more than a million miles my wife also has 1k status with United Airlines. Additionally, each 1k person flying coach can often bring one person up to first class, so United upgraded all four of our roundtrip connections between Denver and San Francisco.
Today, I am giving thanks for the opportunity to enjoy and share airline miles and to receive unexpected upgrades! You may not have airline miles but take inventory of what you have and think of ways to enjoy, share, and have fun doing it! When we enjoy and share God and His blessings, we take hold of life as He designed it.