The Great Commandments - Pleasure & Delight, Part 2

(Number 4 in a series, see numbers 1,2,3)

OK, I've been examining what it means to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all mind and with all your strength. So far, we have defined the word love, and in the verb definition it states 'we love whatever gives us pleasure and delight'. So, we also looked up the definition of pleasure and delight.

Today I'd like to examine the part of the definition of 'pleasure' that states: The gratification of the senses or of the mind.

What are our five senses?

Sight

Sound

Taste

Smell

Touch

Last night I tried to examine how God might gratify these five senses in me. My first thoughts were God is unseen. He's just beyond my senses. I cannot see him, hear him, taste him, smell him, or touch him. In fact, how many people have you heard say, 'How can I believe in a God that I can't see, hear, or touch'?

I was struggling with how I would define this until I tried to break it down. I took out a piece of paper and wrote five headings across the top of the page.

Sight Sound Taste Smell Touch

I, then, began to think about the things in each category that bring me pleasure. This was a very interesting exercise (I recommend you making your own list). In this entry, I'll share what I came up with for Sight and then I'll share the others in another blog entry.

Sight

1. Color: Have you ever really appreciated all the different shades and hues of color and the impact each can have on your psyche?
2. Sunrises/Sunsets: These are my most favorite optical pleasures. The color, the depth, the artistic expression of a sunrise or sunset draws me in like nothing else can. Every time I see the beauty of the sun rising or setting over the horizon, I think about how creative and artistically expressive our God is.
3. Sunshine: Nothing motivates me more than a sunny day. I get my best work done when the sun shines bright in the sky. My mood is also way better!
4. Eyes: The gateway to the soul. I love to gaze into the eyes of my husband or my children. It can connect you to another like nothing else can.
5. Storms/Rainbows: I remember standing on the hill in the backyard or in the safety of our garage with my dad as a kid, watching the storms roll in. In fact, this probably engaged all of my senses. We'd watch the clouds form, the lightening splatter across the dark sky, the rain come down in sheets, and then search for the rainbow in the sky. Do you remember the excitement of seeing the rainbow in the sky and trying to find the pot of gold? If you were really lucky, maybe a double rainbow!
6. Snowflakes: I remember learning as a kid that no two snowflakes were exactly the same, and I spent a lot of time trying to disprove that idea. I remember being memorized by snowflakes stuck to a window, trying to see the slight difference between them, but instead being completely amazed by their delicacy and uniqueness.
7. Mountains/Valleys: The first time we drove through the mountains of Tennessee and South Carolina, I was completely breathless. The beauty and massiveness of the peaks and valleys really put you in perspective. The world is huge and you are so tiny compared to it. We flew over the Washington State mountains when we landed in Seattle and the view from above is just as breathtaking. I can't imagine what a huge mountain like the Himalayas looks like.
8. Redwood Trees: I've never seen one in person, but when you see them in pictures, you can't help but be impressed by their size. I love the pictures of a person sitting at the foot of a redwood and seeing this massive width of tree spanning behind them. What an example of strength.
9. Oceans: One of my most favorite places to be is near the ocean. We've been to the shores of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and this is another area that stirs all of my senses. The vast water that seems to join with the sky on the horizon and go on forever is so beautiful. If you combine a sunrise, sunset, or a storm rolling in, then I'm pretty much in heaven right there. It doesn't get any better than that for me.

I can see already how the things that bring me pleasure, just under the heading of sight, connect back to God.

Who made these things?

God made everyone of them!

He uniquely crafted, designed, created, and gave life to each of the things on my list. The imagination of God is incredible. He made all of these things for us to enjoy, to gratify our senses, to bring us joy. When I look at these things that bring me pleasure with purpose, as I did in this exercise, I see my Lord! God's imprint is everywhere! All of creation testifies to God!

I love God because of the pleasure He brings to my sight! A pleasure that no one else is able to duplicate or create. These are only from God - there is no one greater than He!

I can't wait to get on to Sound next.

May you take the time to make your own pleasurable SIGHT list and give thanks and glory to God for the wonderful gifts he has blessed us with in the universe!