Thirty-Five

Last week I celebrated my 35th birthday. 35! -HA!- I still think I'm in college!
As I read my Bible that morning, I picked a verse to work on this year. I wanted to pick a verse that would be my overall theme for year 35. Something to chew on and push hard on. The Lord brought me to Psalm 37:4.

Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of
your heart.

Some things I'm hoping to understand better:

Delight....what does delight mean? How do you delight? What does does true delight look like?

in the LORD....where is my delight right now? when it's not in the LORD, what is it in?

desires of my heart....what are my desires? are they holy? do my desires match the LORD's desires?

All over the Bible it talks about delight and joy in God-

Nehemiah 8:10-And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Psalm 16:11-You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy;

Hebrews 12:1-2-Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

How can I have that kind of joy? Right now my joy/delight is based on how my kids are behaving, or what kind of day I'm having, or if things are going the way I want them to go, or if my house is clean.

I pray the LORD will use this year to impress upon me truths from this verse.
He has already provided one learning tool through Tony. A few hours after I picked this verse, Tony surprised me with a book he bought for us to go through together. It is 'When I Don't Desire God-How to Fight for Joy' by John Piper.

On the back of the book it says that "if joy in God were merely the icing on the cake of Christian commitment, this book would be insignificant. But Piper argues that joy is so much more. Our being satisfied in God in necessary to show God's worthiness and to sustain sacrifices of love."

I think that's how I'm feeling right now, that my joy in God is the icing on cake that you experience once in a while, but I know it needs to be more than that. If the joy of the Lord is my strength, and I'm a wimp, then there should be a lot more joy in my daily life of mothering/parenting. I'm finding my satisfaction in unworthy objects.

I'd appreciate any insight you have. Please share with me what the LORD has taught you/is teaching you in this area.