Enjoy: More than just a word

“We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are.”  Bill Watterson

Following Super Bowl XXI on January 25, 1987, a Disney commercial starred New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms, in which he was asked “Now that you’ve won the Super Bowl, Phil Simms, what are you going to do?” Simms, who replied “I’m going to Disney World,” was paid $75,000. FYI: John Elway was paid the same amount just in case the Denver Broncos had won. Disney later aired three more ads that year with other famous athletes following major sports championships. In subsequent years, Disney reportedly has offered $30,000 to athletes and other stars for participating in the ads and appearing at one of its theme parks.

  The word enjoy stems from the Old French word enjoir. It means “to give joy, rejoice, take delight in.” True enjoyment doesn’t have to be big, i.e. like going to Disney World. Enjoyment comes from learning to enjoy the seemingly “little things,” that which is often overlooked.  

  1 Timothy 6:17 has a thought-provoking warning, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” God has filled this world and our lives with “everything for our enjoyment.” In other words, you don’t have to go to Disney to have enjoyment. You can just step out your back door or in your own backyard. It doesn’t have to be big, extensive, or expensive. God wants us to enjoy the good things all around us. As we learn to do that, life becomes so much richer and so much more enjoyable.

  This year Jane and I had planned to go to Taiwan to spend a few weeks with our son, Aaron, and his wife, Jiayu. We were greatly looking forward to it, yet with the pandemic, it’s no longer an option. It was something that we knew that we would enjoy. Yet, we’d be foolish and miss out on our Heavenly Father’s many good gifts all around us if we only thought enjoyment was thousands of miles away. Or, if we chose to become miserable about what we’d missed, yet fail to enjoy what we have.

  God has filled our lives with enjoyment. It’s all around us if we’ll simply stop and take the time to look. Too often we miss the many things that our Heavenly Father has given us to enjoy because we erroneously believe that enjoyment is a destination or something extraordinary, expensive, exotic, special, novel, or new. We wrongly conclude that enjoyment must be extra special for it to be enjoyable, yet true enjoyment is just so “normal.”

  Learning to live in enjoyment usually starts with a change in our perspective. It requires slowing down or even coming to a complete stop. It means turning down the noise or putting it all on mute.

  Enjoyment is found in God’s creation. The other day I watched a cardinal out my window hopping from the top of the fence slat to the next top of a fence slat. It was like he had little springs on his feet. I love watching doves gather in our front lawn. As I was sitting on our front bench, a rabbit hopped within a few feet of me as I sat ever so still.

  Did you see the rainbow the other evening? Last Saturday I watched as a sheet of rain came rolling towards me. When was the last time that you looked up at the white billowy clouds, guessing what the shape looked like? Do you periodically stop to gaze up at the stars or a moon filled sky?    

  Enjoyment is found in God’s gift of our homes. Our spouses and children are a gift. God wants us to enjoy them. Enjoying your spouse doesn’t necessitate going away for a getaway or a big date. It’s in the everyday. It’s a light kiss or a gentle hug. It’s thoughtfulness and gratitude.

  If you feel that you must have a getaway to enjoy your spouse, is it truly your spouse you enjoy or the change in the environment? Enjoyment in marriage comes from sharing normal life and day to day adventures.

  Enjoyment is a child’s laughter or hearing them squeal with delight. Enjoyment is watching a teen transition from a child to an adult. Enjoyment is the aroma of a home-cooked meal. It’s doing a project together with your mate. Enjoyment is a family excursion to a local ice cream shop. If the children are young (or if the grandkids are over), there’s something particularly thrilling about a pajama run after everyone is ready for bed to a local drive-thru for ice cream. Enjoyment is in the seemingly mundane of washing dishes, taking out the garbage, or picking up toys for the 1000^th time. Someday there will be few dishes, little garbage, and no toys…other than maybe the dogs’ toys.

  Enjoyment is found in relationships. In western civilization we too highly value accomplishments. While there should be enjoyment in a job well done or a project completed, God designed us to be relational.

  Most of us place a low value on relationships, especially outside of our biological family. Yet, then we wonder why we have so little enjoyment in our lives. Our friendships tend to be wide, but rarely deep. And we jettison them very quickly over differences, dissonance, or disagreements.

  As you read the Bible, you’ll discover mature believers had a circle of friends. Moses had Aaron and Joshua. David had an inner circle. Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego had each other’s backs amidst the evil of Babylon. The Apostle Paul consistently traveled with a team.

  Even the Lord Jesus had a group of followers, both men and women, that He shared life with. I’d encourage you to do a study of not only Jesus’ 12 disciples but that group of followers that He continually interacted with.

  With the birth of the Church it’s very apparent from those early chapters in the book of Acts that they derived great joy from being in each other’s company and sharing spiritual life and everyday life together. Church was not a once a week event for them. They were a community and a family. To be sure, there were problems that they had to overcome, even persecution. That was part of the source of their enjoyment; a growing love for the Lord and each other in the midst of cultural and ethnic diversity.

  Life today is increasingly complicated. The enjoyment of life will rarely come from adding, but from subtracting. Famed basketball coach John Wooden was right, “it’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” Enjoyment comes by returning to the simple, to that which was already there but simply overlooked.

  This week determine to not just “do” life, decide to enjoy it. Thank your Heavenly Father for the simple and then bathe your heart in the pleasures that you may have overlooked or taken for granted. Tell yourself, “I’m enjoying this.” Most of us consistently rehearse in our minds what we don’t enjoy. And we’d enjoy so much more if we were thankful for the small things and habitually reminded ourselves that we were enjoying them. Most of us need to pull some noxious weeds of negative focus and cultivate an inner soul garden of enjoyment.

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.