When I say delight, the first thing that comes to mind is De Light, the light. Delight makes me feel lighter, and I can fly into whatever is before me, into, around, above, and below. I become the light, and I have no need to be anywhere else, be anything else, or do anything else.
It can be the most minor delight- a piece of chocolate melting on my tongue, the hot water of an early morning shower, the red cardinal perching on my bird feeder.
Or it can be something more significant and more enduring — my love of the land, my happiness in a relationship with a friend, my awareness that spring is coming, even though snow covers the ground outside my house.
Delight is contagious. It radiates. I remember someone thanking me after an evening of folk dancing. I asked why are you thanking me? She said that my delight had given her permission to let go and feel the pleasure running through her own body.
It is the same with singing. When we join in the delight of sharing our voices, something much bigger emerges than pleasure, not only for us, the singers, but anyone who listens. And who knows? Perhaps those vibrations are like the fluttering of the butterfly wings that can be heard around the world.
I like to think of my delight as social action. Today, The world is presented as a dark place filled with violence, greed, and destruction. Of course, that is true, and it always has been. Think of the poor dinosaurs who, after millions of years, thought they would last forever. And then one day, their world and they were gone.
But there is also awe and wonder. I like to think that my job is to help balance out all the misery with pleasure, not just for myself, but to activate the joy in others, so we are not buried in the dark but aware that there is also light and that we are called to be the light-bearers.
Where will you bring your light today?