Maybe I’m getting old, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more it strikes me that life’s simple pleasures really are the best. If you’re over age 55, perhaps you remember this one:
I’m not so sure I’d rank a helping of pork and beans as one of life’s best experiences but to each his own in the food department.
I didn’t always think that simple pleasures were the best. Few of us do, most likely. We’re programmed early on to think it’s the Wow! experiences, the extravagant pleasures, that are superior.
I learned young in life to long for Christmas and birthdays, family vacations, and rare outings. Well in advance of those trips of my youth, my parents would talk about where we were going…what we’d be doing. They announced we were going to see the Ice Capades or “The Greatest Show on Earth”; we responded with an “I can’t wait!” enthusiasm.
Even as a 15-year-old, I got excited when dad let us know that we were going to fly to Florida over Spring break, miss a few extra days of school, go to Disney World. That was 1974. Flying was a big deal in the “old days” (people still dressed up for the occasion!). Disney World was only three years old—in its toddler years!
Throughout my adult years, I’ve looked forward to and enjoyed a bunch of “big pleasures”—trips to beautiful places and significant milestones in life—graduations, our wedding, the births of our children and grandchildren, major anniversaries….
Interesting thing about those “big pleasures”—rarely can they be repeated with the same degree of pleasure. Have you noticed that?
Two years after our family vacation to Disney World, I took a solo trip to Florida and the Magic Kingdom. Didn’t have the same effect. A decade later, we took our children to the park, and it was an exciting, pleasurable trip for all of us. We returned nine years later, and it was good…but not the same.
Likewise the Ice Capades and circus. Nice, fun, enjoyable…but not the same.
We’ve seen The Phantom of the Opera on stage more than once. First time, at the Wang Center in Boston, the entire experience was over the top. Strange, though. The next time we went, I found myself comparing it to the first—which takes away from the pleasure of it all, doesn’t it.
The second time we visited Bar Harbor, Maine was very enjoyable…but the first time was better.
I guess the thing about those “big pleasures” is they can’t be repeated to the same effect.
Perhaps that’s one reason life’s simple pleasures are so much better.
Every morning at 5:45, I can pour that robust cup of coffee, sit and read in the early morning quietness—the pleasure never wanes.
Last evening, I bit into the first grilled burger of 2023—grilled in my own backyard, that is—and it was every bit as pleasurable as last year’s first.
Saturday’s afternoon walk along the Rock River in Rockford, or the previous week’s hike in the Mississippi Palisades, or a freezing hike along the shore of Lake Geneva, or a jaunt through nearby Sinnissippi Park…none of those places rank up there with Yosemite or Yellowstone. But the quiet time outdoors with a loved one, removed from the immediate noise of life, is consistently pleasurable.
Perhaps not everyone in our congregation feels this way, but I find great pleasure in our weekly gatherings for worship. Nothing fancy happens. We sing, pray, read Scripture, hear a sermon, sing some more, have casual conversations before and after services. About the same every week. Just as pleasurable every week.
Simple pleasures.
All too easily, perhaps, we take them for granted. Don’t appreciate the simple things for the joy they can bring.
One of the benefits, I think, of developing a grateful heart is a heightened sensitivity to the pleasure found in simple things.
Remember Robinson Crusoe’s list?
There, marooned on that deserted island, he had plenty to gripe about, seemingly little in which to find pleasure. But one educator summarizes his appreciation for some simple things:
After being frightened and in despair when he finds himself the sole survivor of a shipwreck, abandoned on a deserted island, Crusoe finds much to be thankful for. Though he never was religious before this fate befalls him, he comes to believe that it is only through God’s providence that his life has been spared. He is grateful for this salvation, which renews his faith.
Crusoe is also thankful to be able to salvage so much from the ship before it finally sinks. These resources include gunpowder, canvas sails, rope, flour, sugar, and rum, all of which help him to survive.
Early on, he realizes that, no matter how terrible a situation, “there is always … something to comfort ourselves from.” He is thankful for the lesson in seeing the good in adversity.
Crusoe is also thankful for the bounty the island itself provides. He is never hungry, due to the ample supply of goats, pigeons, and turtles, as well as the wild grapes he finds and later cultivates.
Later, he thanks God that he is happier in his solitude than he would be amid “the liberty of society, and in all the pleasures of the world.” Being alone and having to fight to survive has helped him get over youthful vices and bad habits.…
– https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-was-robinson-crusoe-thankful-for-2661408
Paul the Apostle came that point, too. But like all of us, he had to learn it! He writes,
“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to live humbly and how to live in prosperity. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
– Philippians 4:11-13
By the way, he wrote that from a Roman prison.
During a later imprisonment, he wrote to a younger minister, Timothy, and urged him to come visit him. An expression of the pleasure found in the visit of a friend, perhaps? But included in that request, Paul told him,
“Bring the cloak that I left with Carpas in at Troas when you come—and the books, especially the parchments.”
– 2 Timothy 4:13
Can you imagine the immense pleasure Paul would find wrapping himself up again in the warmth of his old cloak? Or sitting by a candle late in the evening, poring over one of his good books?
How great the pleasure we can find in the simple things God gives! How easily we can miss it!
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