Bestowing Admiration

A few weeks back I read a novel called Pearl by Mary Gordon. In it I came across this passage: "Until she met Pearl, Breeda had never felt admired. Perhaps we forget that admiration is something large numbers of people never feel but yearn for without being able to name. Admiration is a luxury, a big-ticket item. And yet it can't be bought or even asked for. It must be bestowed. Pearl bestowed admiration on Breeda, and Breeda felt its richness; suddenly she was, to herself, a person of wealth."
At the Children's Moment in worship in the First Sunday of Lent I encouraged the children not to give up something for Lent , but to add something -- the thing I encouraged in particular was laughter. Today I'd like you to think about bestowing admiration on someone for this week of Lent. It's a gift beyond measure. It costs nothing. And it will mean the world to someone.
Today Conor and I are down at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. It's one of the two schools he is deciding between for next year. We walked around the campus and it was a terrific atmosphere. It got me thinking about what we gain from the "professional educations" we receive. Experiences at places like this can be a wonderful gift. But it is the bestowing of admiration that we do every day that creates the kind of school of the spirit that I want to live in. When Troy and I visited with Richard Florida on Monday one of the things he said, very excitedly, was "you are talking about community as school!" We hadn't thought of that...but I think he's right...and not just community...but...truly...world as school. There is much research to show that bestowing admiration brings good things. Many if not most of them cannot be measured. But it is where the real joy lies.
On Tuesday afternoon Marc McAleavey and I went for a walk and a talk. The subject (really) was happiness and joy. We walked along Fall Creek in the beautiful spring air and the man sitting in front of the apartment building at Park and Fall Creek greeted us warmly. He had never met us. We didn't know one another's names...but he was just exulting in the day -- and the joy of sitting outside in the sunshine. It's hard to describe but what was in his voice sounded a lot to me like freedom for the oppressed. What was in his voice was something deep and powerful and true. It was what Marc and I were trying to talk about. How do we not get in the way of such joy? How do we multiply people's experiences of it? How do we give up our notions of success and adopt the sense of God's delight in us and Her desire for our delight in one another and the whole created order?