±«Óãtv

Good Morning.ÌýOne autumn when I lived in the Appalachians, I decided to go hiking.

Ìý

I hadn’t done any serious walking in years. But I was keen to go and so drove up to a trailhead in the Shining Rock Wilderness.

Ìý

As I began my hike, the ground sloped steeply to my left into a valley carpeted withÌýbright autumn foliage. Ahead of me, seemingly endless mountains stretched westward in the Carolina haze. Later, I entered a wood of ash, maple, and hickory where small birds darted through dappled sunlight.

Ìý

Eventually, I emerged onto a breath-taking panorama of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I was completely unprepared for its effect on me. My heart felt lighter and I skipped like a child. I was drunk with delight.

Ìý

That walk changed my life. Since then, I’ve hiked more than 20,000 miles and devoted myself to studying what it means to enjoy something for its own sake.

Ìý

So many of our pleasures today demand stimulation or distraction. But delighting is different. Saint Augustine argued that it creates a communion that ‘sets our souls in their place.’ It feeds us spiritually, he goes on to say, because God has woven his own delight into every atom of creation. This is what Genesis means when it asserts that God ‘saw that it was good’: God delights in everything he creates, including you and me.

Ìý

If that’s true, then I suspect the key to our happiness doesn’t lay in consumption, but rather simply striving to enjoy God, creation, and each other for their own sake.

Ìý

Loving Creator, our hearts are restless until they delight in you, pour your love into our hearts that we may delight in you and all that you have made. Amen.