Enjoyment

From the Westminster Confession Shorter Catechism:

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Hmmm....

Lofty thought.

Enjoy God. How do I do that?
Glorify God? Well, that's a separate question.

This morning, admist plenty of stress (believe me), I found myself enjoying God.

Everyone was out of the house. I had done the dishes. It was time for breakfast.

So, I got my especially-baked-for-me-by-my-husband, healthy muffin and put it on a pretty-ish, small yellow plate. I took my Yoplait yogurt out of it's container and put it in a small, antique, green, glass bowl. And I put a delicate spoon by it's side.

I enjoyed the preparations. Sometimes I eat on the run, and I don't enjoy that very much.

I served myself my Colombian coffee in a green cup on a blue saucer because color matters. My table has an Indian red table cloth on it, and I loved the contrast. Trust me, it was lovely and inviting and exactly to my liking. I had soft, instrumental music in the background.

I was communing with God, doing what I enjoy.

He did and does the same kind of thing I was doing this morning.

He created the universe. He designed each and every tree and was lavish in all the details. He decided strawberries would be red, lemons would be yellow and blueberries would be blue. He looked on all he had done and said, "It is good."

He communed with his creation, in the making of it, and in the enjoyment of it.

I communed with God today by planning and enjoying the lavish little details; by taking time to give expression to my need for beauty.

Some of the details of how God reached me this morning, through his word, through his people, through his provisions, through the spontaneous gift from friends who enjoy me, remain treasured in my heart and not expressed in writing for now.

But, my point is this: that just by setting the table to my liking, I experienced some of God's character, pleasure, approval, and a touch of how he is when he's creating.

It's important to enjoy small things, the preparations, because God is gloriously revealed in them as well as in the large and extraordinary.

It's not a waste of time to do an ordinary thing in an extraordinary way. Our creator does it all the time! God is revealed through beauty. All of this from not eating out of a yogurt container! The more I know him, the more I love God.