The most pleasurable moments are those you never can plan for. That’s the way pleasure is: you can’t lay a trap for it, produce, plan, coach, or orchestrate it. You can set the scene with candlelight and soft music, but that serendipitous moment of sheer pleasure can’t be staged. It always just kind of happens.
Like the time I was with my husband Ken in Ocean City, Maryland. It was a day in June… the beginning of summer, soft breezes, blue skies. A great time to head to the beach. After a day in the sun, we had hoped our plans for a romantic dinner at our favorite restaurant down by the boardwalk would go as expected. But those plans didn’t. There ended up being no ramp into the restaurant, the place was already crowded by 6:00 p.m., and, besides, I didn’t look like I could fit under their tables. So, we found ourselves wandering down the boardwalk when we happened to hear piano music playing from another hotel lobby. We slipped in and made ourselves comfortable in the lobby. We sat and enjoyed the beautiful piano music.
There weren’t many people around, and so I started singing along. “I’ll Remember You Always”... and then, as the pianist loosened up a bit, Ken stood up, bowed, and said, “May I have this dance?” I wheeled out onto the little parquet wooden floor. Ken held my hand while swinging my wheelchair in circles. That’s when this little girl came running up out of nowhere, she came up onto the wooden floor and stopped a couple of feet in front of us just watching... standing there with her finger in her mouth, just kept smiling.
I leaned down and I said “Sweetheart, would you want to dance with us?” Well, that child doubled over and she squealed in delight. A little girl dancing with a lady in a wheelchair and a silly guy pretending he was Fred Astaire? Come, on this was her kind of party! So the three of us joined hands and swayed to “Moonlight Serenade.” And oh, my goodness, that was a night I shall never forget. There was no way I could have planned for it, but what pleasure. Much more pleasure and joy than what we were expecting at that other restaurant. But God's so much like that… He’s the God of constant surprises!
Samuel Johnson once said, “Pleasure is seldom found where it is sought; our brightest blazes of gladness are often kindled by unexpected sparks.” That’s right… my husband, my wheelchair, and a little girl. The memory of that beautiful early summer evening down by the beach… that happy moment has yet to lose its glow.
Friend, the Lord delights in doing more than what we could possibly ask or imagine, as it says in Ephesians 3:20. Your God takes great joy in surprising you in the most unexpected ways and places. Just ask Him to open up the eyes of your heart today to be on the lookout for His kind of pleasure. And you just might find yourself dancing in circles.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends