My Happy Place

Like all the other spring breakers, I’d love to run away to the sandy shores. Or to an amazing amusement park. Play. Be a kid again. Fun. Escape all the dramas of this life. But we all know, too quickly, spring break comes to an end. And it’s back to the ups and downs of routine living.

Unless… you pack your brain with all sorts of spring break memories. Bring back to mind the sand and the sea, the sights and sounds, the food and drink and laughter and smiles. Just thinking about them can transport you back to a more peaceful place and time. It’s a stress-freeing, relaxation technique used by many. What’s it called? Your happy place!

Jesus often left the routine of being with the crowds and teaching and healing (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; Luke 6:12; Matt. 26:36). He headed off the mountain or some other quiet place. Most say it was to pray. He spent time with the Father. Sometimes He spent all night there. Seems like a long time when we sometimes have trouble sitting in prayer for five minutes without distraction and wandering thoughts. Maybe that was a happy place for Him – in His prayer closet so to speak.

Jesus had great big purpose. Not everyone does though. Some of us are ignoble (2 Tim. 2:20). Some of us are the least of these. Some of us are the last (Matt. 19:30). Oh, we think we are here to have great big purpose. This world teaches us that success and prosperity and position are of greatest value – makes our lives valuable. But that’s not what the Bible teaches. Some of us were born to do small things, more common, not as stupendous things, that are of great value in the eyes of God.

Where am I going with all this? Just as Jew and Gentile, slave and free are all the same to God (Gal. 3:28), small acts and great acts are all the same to God. He doesn’t measure like we measure. Where you are spiritually is most important. David was chosen not by his good looks and stature, but because God saw his heart (1 Sam. 16:7).

God called Jesus to come and rest with Him on several occasions. Come, you are weary. I will give you rest. While away the hours with Me in your happy place. There are no demands of you here. It is safe to give up the battle in My presence. Let’s just let everything shut down. All the worries and concerns and to-do lists, all the where you are’s and where you should be’s. There is no agenda in the happy place. And there is no time limit at the foot of God’s throne. Stay as long as necessary. It’s okay. It’s okay. Only the world would put a limit on such a thing. But God knows when you need rest. God knows when you need escape. Is He calling you now?

Mark 1:35  Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Luke 5:16  But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Luke 6:12  One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

Matt. 26:36  Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

2 Tim. 2:20  In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use.

Matt. 19:30 But many who [now] are first will be last [then], and many who [now] are last will be first [then].

Gal. 3:28 We are no longer Jews or Greeks or slaves or free men or even merely men or women, but we are all the same—we are Christians; we are one in Christ Jesus.

1 Sam. 16:7  But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by a man’s face or height, for this is not the one. I don’t make decisions the way you do! Men judge by outward appearance, but I look at a man’s thoughts and intentions.”