The Scarlet Pimpernel revisited

I love words. And as with most people, over the years I have come to experience their power - for better and for worse. We all know the sorrow and despair of hurtful words and too, the joy and healing of words of love. We know the way words can be twisted and misused; we know words that will clarify and speak truth. We use words carefully or carelessly and we see how powerful they are.

There is one word that particularly appeals to me at this season of the year. It is the word 'delight'. I find this word so beautiful especially when it is used of God. In the scriptures we hear that God delights in us; that God delights in all creation. Delight is about joy I think, and so instead of the God of wrath and judgment that we used to hear about in Lent we should be hearing about this God of joy who delights in all of us.


I believe that Lent and even more, Easter is all about experiencing this word. For God gives us a gift out of delight.  God gives us first, the vulnerable baby - the one we celebrate at Christmas and then there is the man. This man, Jesus,  both shows us how to be human and how to be delight-ful. I am sure that for other religions there are also many reflections of God's delight but for me, I see through Christian eyes so that is what I can speak of.

So when we feel delight, that is a reflection of Jesus' delight. Even in small daily ways we can experience it. When a child does something simple and beautiful, like smile or laugh or play we feel delight. When the sun shines on the tree-tops and turns them orange and makes them glow, we take delight. When we hear a piece of music that transforms our spirits, that too is delightful. 

It also seems to me that there is not a big difference between delight and beauty. Certainly beauty gives us delight and both are Godly. Beauty is what makes our spirits lift. I can recall walking in a field some years ago. It was a perfect summer day, sunny with the enveloping sensation of  the scent of fresh grass and the rustle of trees in the breeze. Suddenly, I looked down towards the edge of the path and saw this tiny, tiny flower, hardly visible in the long grass. I knelt down to examine it and I thought my heart would burst with delight and joy. It was, I now know, a Scarlet Pimpernel. It was exquisitely formed and deep in its center were beautiful shades of yellow and burnt orange contrasting with the scarlet of the flower. There were tiny dots of other color as well and all this beauty hardly visible, rarely seen, but blossoming there in the long summer grass as if it were the most beautiful thing in the world. Perhaps we have all experienced something like this. I hope so.


I guess I am writing about this because that is how I see life. Perhaps we and our world would be a happier place if we knew how to be more aware of the delight all around us; if we took delight in one another and if we trusted that we ourselves are delightful in God's eyes.