Spiritual Journey First Thursday: My OLW For 2018!

I am excited to join a community of fellow bloggers who write on the first Thursday of each month about our spiritual journeys. This month we are writing about our OLW (One Little Word) for 2018. Thank you, Margaret, for hosting our writing on this first gathering of 2018. 

I posed several possibilities for my One Little Word in Tuesday's Slice of Life. And while I love each word from that post, there is no denying that delight has claimed me for this new year. I want to receive and share delight more often in 2018.

First a few ways that I receive delight:

I am filled with delight as I arrive at grandson Jack's house and his giggles greet me. He has a delightful, deep, rolling giggle that my husband says is like a chipmunk. My daughter says it reminds her of the chuckle of Reeses, our guinea pig and family pet when she was young.

I delight at the videos my daughter-in-law Stefi sends us of 18 month old Teddy. (We just got a new one this morning. He's tucked in with a blanket and reading a favorite book to us. How delightful is that?) It's apparent to any reader of my blog that I delight in my role of Grandma to two grandsons.

Perhaps some of my happiest moments are found within the pages of books. I continue to struggle to find enough time to read, but I'm delighted to spend time with favorite authors. Yesterday I read Roz Chast's newest book, Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York. (It was a gift to my son Blake for Christmas, but he left it here with some other things I need to mail to Virginia.)

When I immerse myself in daily scripture study and prayer, I experience the delight that comes from the Lord. "Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, . . . they take delight in approaching to God. (Isaiah 58:2) I'm strengthened by a fellow blogger's counsel that she reaches for her phone and reads scripture before she gets out of bed every morning.

I'm delighted to travel to see family. I have a trip booked to Oklahoma for this spring to see my brother and family and friends. It's been too long since I've been there, and this girl does love to go home again!

One of my favorite activities at the end of the day is settling in to watch something with my husband. Our current watch is "The Crown." I'm delighted that Lance can answer my many questions about the historical authenticity of what we're seeing on the screen.

Finding ways that I receive delight comes easily when I pay attention. I love this quote from Greg Boyle's book Tattoos on the Heart which our book club read recently:  "If you are paying attention, then the day is going to be pretty joyful, and a lot of delight will fill it." 

When I googled "quotes about delight," I discovered this except from Jack Gilbert's poem, "A Brief for the Defense."

"We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,

but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have

the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless

furnace of this world."

                       - Jack Gilbert, "A Brief for the Defense"

(Digging a little further I discovered more about the poem in The Atlantic Monthly article, "The 'Stubborn Gladness' of Elizabeth Gilbert's Favorite Poet." You can read the entire poem in this tribute published in The Sun. It's the last poem in the article.) 

Risking delight, recognizing it, receiving it, and sharing it - that will be the focus for me in 2018. One of the ways I plan to share delight is by writing more letters in the upcoming year. I may think of other ways to give delight, but for now, at least for the first quarter of the year, letter writing will be my focus. Perhaps you can give me suggestions for other ways that I might be a dispenser of delight.