What pops into your head when you hear the word peace? A person making a peace sign with their hand? A preacher saying "May His peace be with you?" Or maybe it's that all too rare moment where everything is quiet and peaceful. Perhaps your pictures are different from mine but the bottom line is, we all need some peace in our lives. Some days we yearn for it more than others. How then do we discover this picture of peace for ourselves?
Let me take you back a few months in time. I decided to buy a car, something I had never done before. I was excited, happy, and nervous, all at the same time. I sat there a few hours after signing the papers to buy it, having a mini panic attack and thinking, "What did I just sign on for here? Sure, it's pretty and it's a good car and it was a good deal. But now I have to pay for it, I have to pay for it each month." These anxious thoughts kept running through my head until I stopped and realized something that I hadn't before. Before I had gone out to look at this car, or any car for that matter, I had prayed and asked God to help me make a wise choice. I also had my parents with me and they'd be honest if they thought I was not making a good choice. They, however, had not said anything about this being a bad idea, so I was confident in that. God let me get this car. He knows how to say no. He could have let it sell before I got there. He could have made it too expensive for me. He could have let me walk away from it. There have been other instances where God has done all of those things. But He allowed me to buy it. I started to settle down and sat there with tears on my face and said, "Thanks, Lord." I saw how God had made this possible for me. I was at peace and humbled by that shiny car in the driveway.
Peace isn't easy to find. It's hard to get to a place of peace. This world is so noisy and 'unpeaceful. There are situations buzzing all about that radiate the complete opposite of peace. Some nights I love to sit outside in my small town and hear the trees and see the sky dark as can be. Now I will say you can't see the stars real well (street lights) or it's not really silent (cars, factory sound). But still, in that moment, you can feel it breaking through--it's peace. Just a glimpse of it and we want more. We yearn to get back to that moment in time where we could be still and we want to feel that again and again. And yet other days, when life gets too overwhelming, we run as far as we can from quiet and anything that could allow us to feel peace creeping in. Why? Because, in the hurried form of life and in the noise, we can be ignorant of that mess that we don't want to deal with. If we don't slow down, we don't have to make amends with those pieces of life. Sometimes it is just easier to do that for a time.
But now, you know the Lord will find a way to get you to slow down and face those pieces sooner or later. For me it seems to take alot to get to that point. I wish I was better at just confessing and laying it all before my Father, but that's not usually the case. He will try first gently to get me to slow down and give Him the pieces so He can give me peace. Then He will get my attention by making life harder so I can't do it alone and I will finally come to my knees and in tears tell Him all about the many pieces I've got for Him. Wish I could get to the hearing Him gently, but we are not there yet.
You know, the Bible talks about "the peace that surpasses all understanding" . This verse made no sense to me for quite awhile. The day it made sense to me, I was getting my wisdom teeth pulled and I was so nervous about it. My mom prayed with me before I went in that I would have that peace mentioned earlier. I was lying there a little drugged and still nervous, as evidenced by the quickened beeping of the heart monitor. I couldn't get calm. I was trying to slow down the beeping and calm my nerves. Nothing was working. I tried thinking of my new puppy I was about it to get. Trying to breath and just relax, well, that wasn't working either. The beeps were still faster than they should be. Finally, I decided I would give praying a shot. So I stared at the ceiling while waiting for the Dr. and just prayed what was on my heart. Within seconds of asking for peace, my heart rate slowed down some and I relaxed somewhat. I still panicked a bit when he walked in the room to start the surgery but I had definitely felt a difference.
Peace is something we can ask for time and time again, seeing sometimes no change or any effect. But other times it will be there in an instant to slow our beating hearts down and realize God's presence is peace itself. His being there creates peace. So thankful that there are enough days and moments where I can see God's peace and feel it. So my dear friends out there, I encourage you to slow down today and let God cover your pieces with His peace. He's got all the peace and quiet we will ever need.
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