Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. --John 14:27
Peace. We talk a lot about peace. And for the last couple of weeks, I have been really thinking about what we mean when we say we want peace.
Peace is not necessarily quiet. Peace can be downright boisterous when it involves the return, for instance, of a child who has been absent a long time. The returned presence of a loved one brings peace to the worried parent's soul in the midst of celebration.
Inner peace can be, and usually is, a quiet stillness. When one has had troubles and finally takes the time to pause and rest, and if it is one's custom, to pray and talk to the Almighty about one's troubles, it seems at times as if a wave of love and gentle healing washes over, and the soul becomes quiet and still. At peace.
Peace among neighbors. Can it happen without a fence? And can it bring down a fence that has stood between for longer than anyone remembers? I believe the answer is yes-- to both questions. . . .
And what about those larger issues, those places in the world where peace, when it does happen, is a fragile, delicate thing, blown apart (often quite literally) by unexpected conflict? Those situations where we seem to feel driven to take sides, even when we really are fairly clueless what may be at the heart of the peacelessness?
We can listen. We must listen.
We seek to set aside our preconceived ideas of who is "right" and who is "wrong," and just listen.
And trust. How hard it can be to trust, when we are people who would rather do something, who believe, at some level, that action does-- well, it gets things done.
Oh, if only we could rest assured we are taking the right action.
Life's hard that way.
John Wesley's three rules try to encapsulate how we are to live: Do no harm; do good; attend upon the ordinances of God. But I met someone once who thought too hard about the first two that he became frozen in inaction, for fear that in doing one person good, he might harm another.
And that is why there is that third one. Take it to the Lord. Listen for the voice of the Creator in the midst of chaos. Allow peace, not as the world offers, but as only God can offer, to settle in your very being.
Then, and only then, will we be able to discern the next step. And we need to understand that sometimes the next step may be simply to stay in one place and do-- nothing. Nothing but continue to attend.
Gracious Lord, we can get so irritated, wanting you to just speak up! Help us to slow down, to listen for your heartbeat, your desires-- not our own. Help us, Lord, to trust in you. Amen
We seek to set aside our preconceived ideas of who is "right" and who is "wrong," and just listen.
And trust. How hard it can be to trust, when we are people who would rather do something, who believe, at some level, that action does-- well, it gets things done.
Oh, if only we could rest assured we are taking the right action.
Life's hard that way.
John Wesley's three rules try to encapsulate how we are to live: Do no harm; do good; attend upon the ordinances of God. But I met someone once who thought too hard about the first two that he became frozen in inaction, for fear that in doing one person good, he might harm another.
And that is why there is that third one. Take it to the Lord. Listen for the voice of the Creator in the midst of chaos. Allow peace, not as the world offers, but as only God can offer, to settle in your very being.
Then, and only then, will we be able to discern the next step. And we need to understand that sometimes the next step may be simply to stay in one place and do-- nothing. Nothing but continue to attend.
Gracious Lord, we can get so irritated, wanting you to just speak up! Help us to slow down, to listen for your heartbeat, your desires-- not our own. Help us, Lord, to trust in you. Amen
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