Enjoying God

I remember exactly where I was and when I first heard the idea of “enjoying” God. It was after a friend presented me with a book that reflected on an old confession of faith. It was a perspective changer for me, one that I savor today. The timing coincided with the era of parenting that was becoming absolutely delightful.

My boys were old enough to play a variety of games in the backyard, and I was in a more rural environment where a trip to the hospital was a 3-minute drive. We enjoyed the baseball park each spring and the soccer field in the fall, but even better was our own series of games and adventures in our own backyard. We made movies that re-enacted Star Wars, we played hide and seek in our house, we read books together, and we found time to fish at a nearby pond.

That summer, we made one of our earliest trips to the Florida panhandle and a community that still felt like an old Florida seaside village. We had an incredible week on the sand, playing frisbee, building sand castles, boogie-boarding the mild waves, and searching for sand dollars. On Saturday, we loaded the car and started our long drive home. Halfway through Mississippi, the boys were asleep in the back seat, their systems crashing after our annual trip to Krispy-Kreme before our long drive home. Kelly reached across the console and took my hand, asking, “You realize that these are the BEST years?” I wasn’t following.

“Our boys are old enough now to be pretty easy. They can entertain themselves, follow instructions, and relate to us. They still want to be WITH us. These are the best years, and I think we need to think about how we can capitalize on this time and enjoy them.” It was an “awakening” for me as a parent. Every word was accurate. And as a dad, I really did “wake up” that day to the delight of our kids.

And then Mark gave me that book. I had never considered “enjoying” God or that God wanted to enjoy me! Knowing how much I was enjoying my boys and how they were enjoying me as a dad, I could grasp the idea, and it really did start to change my perspective. I pursue things differently because of that realization.

Will you? Will you believe that God made you for HIS pleasure and that you are uniquely designed to be able to enjoy HIM?