“Seek ye first the good things of the mind and the rest will either be supplied, or its loss will not be felt.” – Francis Bacon

“If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.” – Lao Tzu

“My soul finds rest in God alone…” – Psalm 62:1

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” – Isaiah 26:3

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth….He Himself gives all men life and breath…and He determines the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” – Acts 17: 24-26

Life is filled with lessons and learning experiences.  No one escapes them.  Often, they are repeated until the learning has been internalized and embraced.  Thank God for His patience, persistence, and grace as we struggle with learning spiritual lessons within the confines of what it means to be human.

Personally, one lesson that has repeated itself time and again for me deals with the principle of happiness.  Too often, I have made my personal peace and contentment contingent and fully reliant upon my present set of circumstances.  I have always connected my “resting place” with a particular set of conditions being met.

How about you?   Have you delayed happiness until you find the perfect mate?  Will peace be forever elusive until your health improves or you have the finances to be free to do as you wish?  Will contentment be impossible in your current line of work or the part of the country where you currently reside?

Is the resting place truly connected to a place?

Here is what I am learning about my own resting place – the place where I am finally at peace and fully content with life.

First, it has never been a physical place or tied to a specific set of circumstances or conditions being met.  I carry it with me everywhere I go and it’s always available to me when I choose to embrace it.   It’s present in both the tremendous joys and excruciating pains of life – always there regardless of the conditions I find myself in.

This resting place is continually available to every human being – a gift from the Creator that’s available to all regardless of their beliefs.  It’s the only thing in life you have the ability to control – especially when all about you is spinning out of control.

The resting place is found within your mind and the thoughts you choose to embrace.  Peace and contentment can thrive there in a place where nothing or no one can take it away from you.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.   When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl

You can dwell on the richness of life in the middle of financial ruin.  Your physical sickness can be surrounded by thoughts of healing and well-being.   Loneliness can be overcome by the companionship found in memories.  Physical confinement can drown in a sea of free beliefs and the limitless boundaries of the mind.

Think about that for a minute.  Your resting place is within you!  Peace and contentment are nothing but a thought or mindset away.

But our humanness makes this difficult at best.  We live in a tangible, physical world – interpreting our experiences with visible, quantifiable evidence.  This is where I always end up failing – focusing on my humanness and discounting my spirituality.

How does the focus begin to change?  How can we move from attaching happiness to physical conditions and circumstances to one where happiness is an intangible state of mind?

I believe it all rests on our view of who God is and the deeper purposes that surround our temporal life.

If it is God who gives us life and breath – determining the times set before us – then we look at our present circumstances through the lens of His sovereignty and love.  We find meaning in every situation.  We see God connected to them all! 

If He is the Source, then current circumstances and conditions are irrelevant.  With Him, all things are possible – leaving nothing impossible.  He is continually at work in our lives – in every instance both positive and negative.  He lives in us (Romans 8:9) – working out His purposes for us in all we encounter (Psalm 138:8)

This is what it means when the Psalmist recants, “My soul finds rest in God alone.”   😊

Tonight, think about peace and contentment – not found within certain conditions or circumstances, but found within our minds and within our hearts.  That’s where our resting place resides my friend!

Wherever you find yourself right now, realize your happiness is simply a thought away.  Believe in the loving sovereignty of a God who lives within you – working out His infinite plans and His unending purposes for you both now and in the ages to come.

God bless!