Delight

Sometimes, as I sit in my living room gazing out the windows at the traffic speeding by, I feel like I'm in a little bubble.  A wonderful, peaceful bubble.  The noise is drowned out by the hum of the air conditioning and the soft music playing in the background.  While I know not what people are doing with their day outside my house, I know that I'm enjoying it inside.  

I'm stranded at home, without a vehicle, and I really don't mind at all.  For some, that would be a bit disconcerting, but for me, it's a delightful thing.  I have plenty to keep me busy in our little home. Housework, the dogs, crafts, reading, a bit of tv, research and writing.  

My husband requested homemade chocolate chip cookies, so I honored his request.  Of course, any of the cookies that were broken while I took them off the cookie sheet had to be gotten rid of.  In. My. Belly. Haha.  Well, as you know, I don't like things to go to waste, and I couldn't put broken cookies on the plate or in the trash...so I had to eat them!  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

I usually just put the cookies on a paper plate with some wrap covering them and leave them to be eaten. I thought of my mother and how she taught me to make each day special in one way or another. So I decided to bring out one of the beautiful Carnival Glass plates I inherited from her and put the cookies on it.  You can see it there on the bottom left of the picture below.  So pretty!

After eating a few cookies I decided I needed something just as yummy to wash them down.  See that cute little teapot/mug combo below?  My wonderful hubby got that at a garage sale for me.  I used to have quite a few teapots, but have worked my way down to just three.  This little teapot holds about three cups; just right for one person.  It's such a wonderful little gem with a cute little matching cup that sits right on top when I store it.  And it's made just for that purpose!  Isn't it adorable?

         

I 'inherited' my love for tea from my mother as well.  We used to drink tea together and have wonderful conversations.  While I do use bagged tea, when I can get a good loose-leaf tea I prefer to use it. A friend of mine had given me some wonderful loose leaf tea, and I brought it out today for that extra-special relaxing moment.  I have the cutest little tea infuser that I picked up many years ago.  My mother had one of the old acorn-shaped infusers, and we used it often.  My little infuser is perfect for my little teapot.  It has a chain and hook to make it easy to get out of the teapot.  The lid is a on a two little hinges so it opens to let me scoop in just the right amount of loose-leaf tea.

It is the most adorable little house!  Isn't it cute with the little curved door and windows?  It brings me joy just to use it.  Here it is, deep in the water, ready to brew deliciousness.  Lid on now to brew a proper pot of tea!

And when it's all done, it's a beautiful amber color, and makes for a pretty cup of soothing tea.  I'm so pleased with the special moment for today.  Mother would be delighted as well.

As I enjoyed my pot of tea, I thought of how Mother would suggest ways to make ordinary moments and ordinary days special.  She said "God gave them to us.  It's up to us to make them our delight."  And she's right.  It works that way with our relationship with God too.  When we take time to make that relationship special, reading His Word, and pausing in our busyness to listen to Him, we find the same delight that Jeremiah did.  In the midst of his busyness and complaining, for a brief moment he reflected on what gave him delight. In Jeremiah 15:16 he said "Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts." 

I share Jeremiah's delight, each time I study deeply the Word of God.  And I have delight each time I call upon the Lord in prayer, gather with others in worship, and share Him with others.  I enjoy the delight when I take time to create the quiet, reflective moments in a day like today.  And I thank Him for the day of being "stranded" so I can enjoy - delight.