Pleasure

C.S. Lewis’s book, The Screwtape Letters, is a series of letters from a devil named Screwtape to his younger nephew, Wormwood, on how to tempt the human he’s been assigned. The following is one of my favorite passages. Screwtape is explaining pleasure to Wormwood (the point is that pleasure needs to be twisted before it is of any use to the enemy):

"[God] is a hedonist at heart. All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a façade. Or only like a foam on the seashore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure and more pleasure. He makes no secret of it; at his right hand are ‘pleasures for evermore.’…He has filled his world full of pleasures. There are things for humans to do all day long without his minding in the least—sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, making love, playing, praying, working…"

This passage reminds me to take pleasure in the little things in life. God has created an indefatiguably fascinating world, and I really do think he wants us to find joy in everything, even seemingly small, quotidian things—learning a new word, getting a new journal, sunshine, eating a perfect apple, possibilities, poems, memories, a love note, a fragrant flower, a good book. Heck, even pet peeves. The world is bigger than we can even imagine, and it’s ours for the exploring and enjoying.

You have made known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in your presence,
With eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:11

Why, then the world’s mine oyster, which I with sword will open. –Shakespeare