"You shall be called my delight"

 You are to be a crown of splendor in the hand of Yahweh.
A princely diadem in the hand of God;
no longer are you to be named “forsaken,” nor your land “abandoned,”
but you shall be called “my delight.”

                                                       Isaiah 62:3-4

Trying to turn left onto 10^th Street, in late afternoon traffic, I noticed them through the glass of my windshield: two good looking, twenty-somethings who were clearly in love and most likely sharing habitation.  They carried a huge cloth tote-bag between them filled with groceries – she, holding the handle in her left hand, he, in his right.  Their other hands sported a collection of other house hold items: dry-cleaning, an incredibly large plastic container of spring water, several hand- and book bags. 

They had stopped on the corner waiting for the light to go their way.  He, handsome, trim, bearded, looking confident and alert. She, cute, strong, with an easy way about her that made you think she would be a lot of fun.   He grinned and stretched, working out the cramp in his hand from the heavy bag.  She, tossed her hair and fiddled with it, looking at him coquettishly – there is just no other way to describe it – coquettishly, with slightly slanted eyes.

They were talking only to each other – completely absorbed. Animated features and gestures – lots of smiles, deep laughs, not so much a soulful looking into each other’s eyes, but, instead, an excited and joyous reaching out to each other – light touches on arms, hands – a quick hug around the shoulders, a light brush of hand on cheek.  There was a kind of give and take – two bodies in sync, two hearts giving and receiving , a spontaneous and lovely pas de deux on the mean streets of ATL.

Perhaps it’s just the gossamer beauty of this particular spring, maybe the fragile lightness of the pink and white blossoms that surround us on all sides that enabled me to see the amazing wonder of the two of them – I could not stop watching this silent tableau of young love in bloom.  They were delighted with each other – they took great delight  in each other- took it with gusto, with both hands, with souls and bodies, as it were, with deep and gushing joy! They were delightful to behold!  

They were, indeed,  beautiful in their friendship – reminding me of a wonderful snippet from a poem by Khalil Gibran – “and in the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures,  for in the dew of little things, the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.”

Have you ever felt this way?  Ah, if you have not, I feel dreadful sorry for ye, as my Irish ancestors would say.  There is nothing like that feeling, of being in sync, two pendula swinging as one, balance, counterbalance, completely in harmony, abounding with joy!

Aelred of Rievaulx, a 12^th century English monk, would have recognized them immediately. Among other scholarly works, he wrote a brief treatise called “spiritual friendship” in which he made the case that true friendship between people is a mirror of the friendship that God desires with every one of us. Aelred, quite the romantic, would have easily drawn the connection with the delight these two lovers enjoyed, to the delight that God has for us – the delight that God takes in each and every one us, something, indeed, that is delightful – to behold in ourselves and in all those others, whom God has created in God’s delightful image!

Trying to turn left on 10^th Street – a very unlovely activity – I was treated to a little glimpse of love delighted  - and a reminder that we are no longer called forsaken, or the land which is abandoned, by “God’s delight.”