Duty of Delight

Beauty will save the world. 

Fydor Dostoyevsky  

There is the promise of baking pumpkin bread this afternoon, though I have completely dismissed the notion of cooking the two pie pumpkins that have been decorating our floors over the last week and pureeing their flesh for the said bread. Maybe tomorrow. You see today, well today, we at the Johnson house are particularly slow, throwing schedules completely away and embracing a more casual approach. After all, it is Friday. And today, though it is nearly noon as I sit in my pajamas and glasses, I am bent on not beating myself up over yesterday's sins but instead thanking God for the grace to pick myself up off the floor and grasp onto a new day, a day, to quote Anne of Green Gables, "fresh with no mistakes." Today I vow to honor beauty by opening myself to it all around me. I will climb out of my stupor of complaints about chipped paint, ripped sofas, the broken window shades so precariously perched that they inevitably fall down whenever touched, and instead I will express gratitude for all the simple gifts waiting to be received: The sun vibrantly shining through the autumn leaves pressed onto our windows; the brilliant, crimson, tree "wearing a gayer scarf"outside our house (it is truly magnificent); the boy whose name rhymes with "Hustle Bustle" seeing rainbows in the colors of a sunset and who squeezes my face demanding that I smile; his twin brother who announces that mommy will be a coffee cup for Halloween and daddy, of course, will be the coffee; the girl who offers me a pretend cup of peppermint tea with cream and mint chocolate chip ice cream compliments of French Meal (Russell's imaginary restaurant that despite what the name might suggest, primarily serves hot dogs and mac and cheese); and the oldest son, my budding iconographer, who writes icons of the Virgin Mary "More spacious than the heavens" (portrayed with hands lifted in prayer as the Christ child is yet within her), burps his ABC's at breakfast, and requires us to listen to "All I Want Is You" by Barry Louis Polisar, popularized by the movie Juno, until we all have memorized the lyrics. Today I will pray for the strength and courage to fight against the defeating feelings of being overwhelmed by life's circumstances, which snuff out my ability to live in the present moment and squash my joy. Today I will acquiesce to my son's request to smile more, especially in the midst of annoyances and interruptions, because I am pretty sure that it is here that Christ is most fully present. And now, it is time to loudly sing "If I Had a Hammer" along with Pete Seeger, dance recklessly with my children, and bake some bread. Peace and goodness to you.

 

Dorothy Day loved to quote Ruskin, who urged us all to the 'Duty of Delight.' It was an admonition, really, to be watchful for the hilarious and the heartwarming, the silly and the sublime. This way will not pass again, and so there is a duty to be mindful of that which delights and keeps joy at the center, distilled from all that happens to us in a day.- from Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle