When I run I feel His pleasure.  Not! I hate to exercise—even walking. Ugh.  I walked enough as a child.

I really should watch that movie—Chariots of Fire—I tried once for about 5 minutes—it truly is time – especially now – because I want to put my own spin on that famous line, “When I run I feel his pleasure.”

Here’s the spin:  When I _______, I feel His pleasure.

Tom and I are in our fifth week of teaching a six week Sunday School class on Relationships and I must say it’s been pleasurable – that one hour on Sunday morning – the prep time is often agonizing − but there is this thing that seems to take over after about five minutes of speaking.  It doesn’t happen immediately – but it comes – not always – but mostly – and it is indeed pleasurable.

 A Christian hedonist – that is indeed what I’ve become.

So, of course it had me thinking of my own top ten “feeling God’s pleasure moments”  – and after reflecting on the topic for two days now, here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. I feel His pleasure in the morning.  Often I love to begin my God-Time with music. For some time now Adagio for Strings is the first thing I play (of course on my laptop, not the piano).

2.  I feel His pleasure when my husband sings along with XM Radio’s Love Station – as we are somewhere on an interstate heading home.

3.  I feel His pleasure at Brookstone Camp. There is nothing in Charlotte that is better for my soul than Brookstone School.

4. I feel His pleasure when I am reading a good, soul-warming novel by Francine Rivers (my favorites are Redeeming Love and Mark of the Lion).  Weird how it can be pleasurable in some measure even while weeping uncontrollably.

5. I feel His pleasure when I am with my young, life group every week over lunch.  They don’t even seem to mind when I “go to preaching.”

6. I feel His pleasure when I am talking to a woman about coming to seminary.  Funny how the topic of seminary often gets neglected.

7. I feel His pleasure at my mom’s resort home in the mountains – with my mom – on the porch – looking at the creek – reflecting on His goodness.  Or playing games around the kitchen table with family – or watching Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time.

8. I feel His pleasure at the Walk to Emmaus.  It’s been over eight years since I’ve last participated in a “Walk” but I can still feel the pleasure of those sacred moments – that late night on the porch—in God’s presence—with my sacred moment friend Carolyn.  Truly a moment that has lasted a life time in my soul.

9. I feel His pleasure when I share Him with others.

I close with this most pleasurable thought from Catherine of Genoa:

“If God provided so many delightful things for me, the Body, think of what he may have in store for you, the immortal Soul!”