It was a textbook beach day. The sky was deep, textured blue with thin layers of white clouds stretched like spider webs just for effect. The breeze was slight, not enough to be annoying, but just enough to offer refreshment. The ocean, a perfect turquoise, opaque glow. The warm sun beaming down only made it brighter. The air was scented perfectly with coastal saltiness. The song of the seagulls brought a brightening melody to the ear. The crash of the waves, followed by the ripple of the current would be the perfect sound effect for deep sleep. The cool tide washing slowly in over my outstretched feet provided the sublime garnish to the day. My wife was beside me, my kids were frolicking in the ocean before me, the cares of the world were behind me. The impeccable setting.
This would be the moment for the obligatory snapshot of my feet resting on the sand with the ocean before me that so many take and post, along with the words, “My happy place.” It would have fit nicely. It was a place, and it made me happy. Strangely, I resisted the urge. I resisted the urge because in that moment where all of my external circumstances seemed faultless, something began to wash over me other than the rippling current of the Atlantic.
As I watched my kids laugh, play, wrestle, ride the waves, scream, and smile, I began to get tunnel vision. It was as if the beauty of the ocean, the sand, the perfect sky, the crashing waves, all of it went to black, and the only thing I could see were my children. It was surreal. In a matter of seconds, I pictured all of the ball games, Christmas Eve’s past, plays, musicals, schools, bike rides, first and last days of school, struggles, fights, life lessons, and so much more. I was reduced to tears. Not because of sadness, but because of joy. I was awash in the realization that the “Happy Place” could never be reduced to a geographical location, a time period, or a set of circumstances.
To be clear, I understand what most people mean when they refer to their “Happy Place.” There really are places that make you and I happier than other places. I understand that many will retire or move to a geographical place they like better than others. I get it. I understand that most don’t literally mean that if they’re not constantly in a certain geographical location with a certain set of circumstances, they can never be happy. Well, okay, I know a few who seem like that, but most are not.
If only life could be so simple and easy that the “Happy Place” were a geographical location. Then we could send all the broken marriages and families there and everything would be spared. We could send all the addicts there and they could be free. We could send all the angry, displaced, the broken, the dysfunctional all there and everything could be made right. Not so much. Why didn’t God just create a beach or a range of mountains on every street corner if this were true? Sadly, even beaches and mountains have the homeless, the broken, the addicted, divorced, the orphans, the marginal people like many of us. Most of them just don’t hang around the resorts where we vacate.
The beach is certainly a happy place for me. I calculate that based on the average number of weeks I go to the beach each year versus the number of weeks I’ve been on planet earth, I have spent roughly 96 weeks at a beach and 2,400 away from a beach. I would hate to think that the only times I have been happy in life are those 96 weeks. The simple truth is that most of us don’t spend any significant amount of time at what we would deem our “Happy Place.” That is because metaphorically speaking, most of the living, coming and going, the working in and working out of our everyday lives is spent in the valleys and streets of the mundane between coastlines and mountaintops. Perhaps that’s the point.
When Jesus said in John 10:10, “I come so that they may have life and have it more abundantly,” his intent was not to move everyone to their favorite vacation spot or beyond their bleak circumstances. The word “abundantly” in this verse means much more or greater. In other words, Jesus is better…always. Of course, we feel God’s presence much more vividly across the ocean tide and ranging mountaintops. But He’s just as present and vivid in the hospital room or the lonely corner. The “Happy Place” is not some magical, geographic location or mythical state of mind. It’s a person. His name is Jesus.
Because of this truth, it means the “Happy Place” can be found in the hospital room, the isolated nursing home, the grinding workplace, the dark back alley, the pavement of our driveways, the steps to our front door, the delightful dinner table, and so many more places. Every routine moment can be stupendously spectacular! We are surrounded by these moments and places every single day. The key is being able to step out of the dullness of the ordinary to see and hear them. They do not rest on the surface. They require perspective and faith…the supernatural. Who gives you that? Exactly, the Person, The Savior, The Spirit, The Lord…Jesus.
Once you discover this transcendental truth, you’ll never have to get in a car or on a plane to find your “Happy Place.” It will show up at your doorstep daily, and when it does, you’ll gladly pull out a chair, give it a place to sit, and take in the impeccable setting all around you.
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