Some people cry out “Peace, peace, but there is no peace!” And so it goes when a life is filled with chaos and turmoil, daily worries and big challenges. Somewhere within us all, though, there is a supreme self who is eternally at peace. In spite of the chaos that sometimes assails us, in spite of the obstacles that stand ominously before us, we can be at peace. So what is the secret, the magic trick that enables us to have peace in the midst of turmoil?
One secret is to surround ourselves with peaceful things – moments of silence, places of beauty, nature’s healers. And we must fill our worlds with people of peace, avoiding those who mete out harshness, anger, violence and rage. It matters what we see on our televisions. It matters who we allow into our lives. It matters what we hear and see and experience.
It’s important that we do all that is possible to create a peace-filled life. The most important thing of all is what we hold in our hearts. What lives inside of us that robs us of the peace we so long for? I can hear my exasperated mother from so many years ago saying, “All I need is some peace!” For she was a person who had not resolved the many hurtful things she brought from her past. Certainly, all of us live with unresolved hurt or anger. But what is unresolved within us need not define us. Hear these words full of wisdom from Ranier Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet:
“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart . . . live in the question.” That is the pathway to your peace.
Finally, those of us who believe in God also believe in his eternal presence with us. And so we lean on God’s everlasting arms, ever close to that Creator of peace that passes all understanding. In God we find perfect peace that sustains us in every trial of life.
God of the Sparrow 🌱 By Kathy Manis Findley 