There is some kind of rush fine tuned into the whirls, steams and buzzes of a coffee run. I think if adrenaline had a soundtrack, it would wake up to the noises that fill the morning rush of your local espresso joint. It’s invigorating, and let’s be honest, it has a really great smell to send it’s invisible energy on. Too much? Maybe. But I really love coffee.

For me it’s the coffee rush, for you it’s ______? 

Close your eyes and picture the scene you tag to the word “busy.” An early morning line for an extra hot latte, or maybe it is an all nighter behind a glowing screen racking your brain for the right way to communicate the paper or project yet to find it’s glowing backdrop. Or maybe clear as day to you it’s the clumsy juggle of buckling in two children while breaking up a fight with the other two. 

Busy has become a chameleon in our non-stop world. Easy to miss, difficult to expose.

It is depleting and can harm both our spiritual life as well as our physical beings.

But what if there was a remedy? What if there was a way to keep your everyday rhythms while simultaneously flipping busy on her head? A safe spot, a secret weapon, an “about face” into a steady peace, and never ending energy stream? Spoiler alert, there is such a spot, weapon and peace – and it’s yours, and mine and hers for the taking.

Jesus in His lifetime on earth lived in a way that somehow has caused both ancient stained glass reverence, as well as hipster one liner relevance. He was and is masterful in wisdom and able to cut through the stress and anxiety of His disciples time after time in their confusion of what He was trying to communicate through the context of His beautiful story-telling. And the remarkable thing is that He did all of this while He Himself must have had a measure of stress ever evolving as He knew His ultimate fate.

How did He do it? How did He elevate Himself above the non-stop ministry and Gospel introduction His life was mandated and mantled with so that He could hear clearly from the Father? 

He stopped and listened. The message translation of Luke 5:16 records it in terms simple enough, helping us see how we too can mimic the posture of our Savior: “As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.”

The key? As often as possible. Scheduled time with the Lord is great, but as often as possible is better.

Pray when you’re filling up your water bottle, ask God to speak when you are walking to the bathroom during your lunch break, open your spirit to a “let’s just sit together” mode when your kids miraculously fall asleep in the car for 20 whole minutes. 

Find the pockets of holy that God has set apart to check in. Not sure where those are? Look for the ones where you check OUT (i.e. instagram scrolls, binge watching netflix, you get the picture). Look for the ones where you feel the rush around you – hey, hey coffee stop – and focus on Him rushing IN instead.

And what will happen if we start to turn our attention to those pockets of Heaven? I believe Jesus will leak.

He will expand His wisdom into your soul, and your attention for others will grow. Your spirit will strengthen, the non-stop culture that blankets us won’t feel so heavy, and ultimately, He will make known His will for your life in even greater measure so that we can continue to join Him hand in hand, heart in heart for the renewal of all things.

Cheers to a lifestyle of withdrawing as often as possible for the things above, may it be so for us all.