Dear God, Thank you for butterflies and dolphins...

It's Sunday morning in the 4 & 5 year old room and we're getting ready for snack time. Abby, a sweet little girl with blond hair and blue eyes, volunteers to say grace:

"Dear God, Thank you for the butterflies and thank you for the dolphins and uh...thank you for grace. Amen."

I loved this prayer. How precious. Abby thanked God for butterflies and dolphins. Why? Because they make her happy. She sees these creatures and she smiles and laughs. It makes sense to thank the Giver of these gifts. I've told probably half a dozen people this story and even went as far as to put it on my favorite quotes because I enjoyed it so much, but it took on even more meaning after Doug's talk at Connexion Sunday night.

Doug spoke about joy, using Scripture from Philippians 3. One of the points involved the joyful nature of God. I have to admit that I don't often think of Him that way. I think of Him as experiencing happiness, but I guess I leave out the aspects of wonder, excitement, and surprise that I often find in joy. Doug described it as God making one daisy and then being so overjoyed with it that he just kept making them... why only have one daisy when you can have many? Or God making one blade of grass and then continuing to create blades of grass because he was delighted by the color green. I love this illustration of God's delight in His own creation and it sent me back to Genesis:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated light from the darkness. (1:3-4)

The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (1:12)

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (1:25)

God saw all that he had made and it was very good. (1:31)

I could keep going, those are just a few examples. The phrase "And God saw that it was good" took on new meaning for me. I don't think God is just seeing the practicality and productivity of His creation. I think He's really filled with joy over it. He is delighting in it, like a painter gazing at the portrait he just finished, admiring his work and feeling wonder and excitement over what has been made by his hands. What a beautiful characteristic of God to think on. I thought about that this morning as I walked to work. I made sure to take notice of the sun and the trees and the robins that were hopping around trying to catch worms for their breakfast. Just knowing that God delights in His creation made it so much more meaningful to me today. It's like your best friend's birthday party when they get a really cool toy and are excited to share it with you. Their delight becomes your delight. God's joy becomes our joy.