The Traveling Couch

Song of Solomon 1:16
How handsome you are my beloved, And so pleasant! Indeed our couch is luxuriant!

I remember feeling an increasing need and pressure to get somewhere away with the Lord. He'll do that....woo you..draw you away to Himself. His desire is for you. You were made to love and be loved. The church has settled for the back of His head, and He wants face to face. Intimacy, nothing less will satisfy, Him or us.
I started thinking about a retreat center I had visited a couple times years ago. It was accessible and cheap. I went the first time, and really it wasn't what you would call electrifying. I struggled the entire 2 days trying to relax and let go of my life. I napped...I was bored...I struggled to "do" spiritual things. Read my bible, do devotions, worship, whatever. Finally after a couple of these "retreats" I realized I needed to ask the Lord what "He" wanted. Surprisingly...He didn't want anything. He wanted to be with me. And He wanted me to be with Him. Just enjoy Him.
What?What?
Try it. See if you think that's easy.
We are so programmed for performance, it felt like the most un-natural thing in the world. It felt downright unfaithful.
But I began to obey. Oh...it was up and down, touch and go. But now...the first thing that happens when I roll into the driveway at my retreat center, is I feel the world peel off. The weight comes off my shoulders, and my life is left at the entrance to the road. It's just me and Jesus.
Next, I go in, throw my stuff into my room and then I...A. commune with God in the woods...B. worship Him in song...C. read at least 2 chapters of the bible, or D....Take a nap.
Correct!!! D....take a nap! It's part of the Lord's strategy to rest you up and teach you to let go and come to His feet. I'm getting pretty quick about de-stressing anymore. I love that it is becoming more automatic. It's actually starting to work in my everyday life, as I can come to His feet as many times a day as I want. It very sweet in my retreat home, but it's great here also. I just tend to pick it back up quicker here. But our "luxuriant couch" is wherever I take time to recline on His chest and just be with Him.
Did you know God loves you, and if you really love Him, you are a success? That's what He is after, your heart. It's Jesus plus nothing. You may be a CEO, a priest, a janitor, the president of a nation, an evangelist...those are all just jobs. Task's. They are not "who" you are. You were made for God. That identity is what your life is really about. Search that out. But take time for the traveling couch. That's the One Thing.

Psalm 27:4
One thing I have asked from the Lord, one thing I shall seek; That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.

We become what we behold. Look at the beauty of Jesus...really look at it. Study it..meditate on it. You will be changed.

2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.