I’ve been listening to a seven-episosde podcast hosted by Krista Tippett. Tippett created a series she calls the Hope Portal,  “adventures in opening the deep enduring teaching that lives inside the 20 years of On Being. [The NPR radio show Tippett hosted for twenty years.”] In addition to each episode, listeners have access to downloadable journaling prompts, suggestions for group study and conversation and the invitation to recall the people and events in your life that have filled you with hope.

Last night, Episode 7, began with an interview with poet/essayist Ross Gay whose “The Book of Delights” began as a quest to find something to delight in every day for a year. After we listened to the interview, our group discussed the challenge of feeling joy in today’s world. I wrote down this phrase: “Adult joy knows suffering lies nearby.” Does the world’s suffering preclude experiencing joy?  Are we in the habit of seeking out delight? Can we simultaneously hold delight and the knowledge of nearby suffering within our hearts?

Delphiniums fills me with delight. Ditto the way my husband can make me laugh at the most inane things. Or the way squirrels chase one another around a tree trunk squawking and chittering as the scramble ever higher. Recalling these things in my mind’s eye doesn’t overcome my sorrow and fury over Sunday’s murder of Australian Jews celebrating the first night of Chanukah. It doesn’t chase away the agony of parents eager to embrace their college kids home for winter break. Reaching for delight simply reminds me that life isn’t all or nothing. Life is always and forever lived somewhere between despair and hope, between unfathomable grief and the kind of joy that sends your spirit soaring.

So what’s your delight? Share it with us. Let’s pool some delight during these dark days, knowing that brighter times lie nearby.

 

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