HAPPY PLACE

Noticed this sign at a fabric and craft store--yes!

My late mother (she would have been 101 this year!) had many happy places in her life, all of which my dad graciously encouraged. One was sewing, and after years of cramming her sewing machine into what should have been the breakfast nook in our kitchen, she moved it all to my old 10x10 bedroom when I moved out on my own.  The other was her art, mostly oils and pastels, which my sister and I shared among ourselves and with relatives after her death.

I am not an artist, but I have found joy in sewing simple projects, like grandkid pajamas and baby quilts.  I leave the intricate quilting to the real pros who exhibit their masterpieces at our local quilt show. But I have made more than 1,000 simple patchwork baby quilts in the last five or so years, none of which stayed in our home. I donated them to hospitals and ministries serving people in need or advocating for unborn babies. This was my “happy place,” to create and give away. That’s why I resonated with this sign at a local fabric store (where I often stop to check the remnants bin!).

A few mornings ago my husband had the television news going while I was still trying to admit that daytime had come. (I am not a morning person.)  They featured a guest who said there were three important elements to cardiac health.  One was exercise, then healthy diet, and finally, a “happy place”—that is, something that brings you the altruistic joy of serving people.

Bingo! That’s what my crazy blanket-sewing project had become as I continued to pursue it during a time of enduring emotional negatives from a troubled person.It’s prompted me to consider these scriptures in the light of a God-pleasing “happy place”:

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 NIV)

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. (Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV)
Now, fear not if the sewing gene skipped your generation. I know several who serve with willing hands and “with all their might” in a local soup kitchen, week after week after week. Others are “lunch buddies” for grade school children at emotional risk. Or they take food and encouragement to seniors or families in need. One woman, who never had a bike as a kid, tries to match used bikes to kids in poverty who have none.  

On and on the list of hidden ministries could go. The principle is there in Jesus’ teaching about the vine and the branches (John 15). When we stay vitally connected to Him, “fruit” is going to happen through growing godly character and serving others for Him. Far better than a kid’s “happy meal,” my “happy place” feeds my soul, one patchwork square at a time.