“Look at me! Look at me, Mama!” my six-year-old daughter giggled as she bounded through a cartwheel in our backyard. She had been working on that cartwheel for weeks with the help of an older friend in the neighborhood, and this was the first time she succeeded in getting her feet up over her head and then landing with grace and strength.
“Me too! Me too! Watch meeeeee!” shouted my four-year-old son, not to be outdone by an older, wiser sister. With both hands on the grass and his butt pointed high towards the sky, he jumped over a few inches, never lifting his legs over his head. “Did you see me?? Did I do it??”
After hearing praise and reassurances of their complete success, my kids moved on to play a game of tag. I marveled at how much joy they had in such a simple, almost mundane moment. Would they remember this particular moment? Maybe not. They often ask me to look because they really want me to see not just their achievement, but them. Even if they do not remember the moment, I will remember the delight I took in watching my daughter accomplish something she worked for and watching my son compete to catch up.
I am not the only one to have great joy over my children. At creation in Genesis 1-2, God saw his work and said it was good; then God saw us and said we were very good. Zephaniah 3:17 promises us something so beautiful this Advent season:
The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.
As we celebrate joy in the third week of Advent, considering God’s joy over us seems so fitting because this joy led to Jesus being Emmanuel, God with us. When the Lord is called our God, it demonstrates a relational connection, a commitment; we belong to God, and God belongs to us. God is described as a mighty warrior, suggesting a powerful being, a fighter, a trustworthy avenger of injustice. The daily wrongs we see will be righted. The promised salvation comes when Jesus willingly dies on the cross and conquerors death and sin through resurrection. The motivation for this salvation is the delight and love God has for us. God has joy in witnessing us become and grow, just as I did with my children. This is not an obligatory love but a dynamic, full, elated love that cannot help but erupt with singing. The God of the universe takes delight in us to the point of song. Can you hear it?
Maybe this year it has been difficult to hear God’s song over your life. Maybe instead of my daughter’s cartwheels in life, yours have resembled my son’s, butt in the air and all. The beauty of God’s delight is that we cannot earn it; God’s delight over us simply…is. Like God’s love, God’s joy speaks to who he is. Let’s put our trust in who we know God to be, rather than our cartwheels—successful or not. And in this Advent season, let’s set aside time to delight in God, to be in awe, to pause and listen for that song. I bet it’s full of joy.