On finding real peace. . .

Good Morning Friend!

I sat on my front porch, coffee in hand, birds above welcoming the morning.

I don't often begin days this way.

Usually they're a blur of hurry. I'm off and running without a pause.

But today is different.

And I ask God to help me be different too.

I realize then that I don't ever pray for peace.

Oh, I've had seasons of hope. I've thought a lot about joy.

Peace seems, dare I say it, a little boring.

So I whisper a desire to know more about peace...about what it really means. Because somehow I sense I've got it all wrong. My aching shoulders tell me so. My overflowing to-do list reaffirms it.

Then at night I can't sleep.

I lay my head on the pillow and one phrase keeps drifting through my mind. I get up and look for it by playing the "Bible Game". I discover it nestled in the center of this verse, "Whoever would love life and see good days...must seek peace and pursue it." 1 Peter 3:10

Whoever would love life and see good days.

Don't we all want that?

And yet we feel as it requires more--money, time, activity.

What if it is really about less?

Perhaps it's in the less that we find what's truly more.

And here's the secret: This kind of "less" isn't even about our circumstances. We may be as busy as ever. It's simply about less of us and more of Him in the middle of wherever we are, whatever we're doing.

I read this somewhere:

"I had thought somewhere quiet would ensure peace. It didn’t. I was still in my skin. Peace wasn’t a place I could find on a map, or even a place that I could create. Peace wasn’t a place to live in. I came home to the noise, embraced the kids, and laughed loud and long. Peace wasn’t 'out there.' He was here. Peace was a Person."

A Person.

He is peace.

And in that knowing, our striving can finally cease.

Lord, teach us to know peace because in doing so we are really learning to know You. Calm our hearts, quiet our thoughts, draw us back to what matters most. Meet us in the less and give us more of what we really need. Amen.

Blessings on your weekend
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