What Disturbs Your Peace Today?

When I was a little girl taking organ lessons—yes, it was organ, not piano—I fell in love with a song, “Let There Be Peace on Earth and Let It Begin with Me”.  My version was easy to play, and it allowed me to belt out the words as if I were auditioning on the Voice stage!  I’d like to believe that even then, my soul longed for the peace that I have come to experience so deeply as an adult.  Now I know now that it is a peace that comes from a trusting relationship with God. 

The idea of living in peace amidst the trials and troubles of life becomes the challenge.  Life is hard.  Things go wrong.  Your car breaks down.  You lose your job.  Your child won’t talk to you.  There’s not enough money.  People hurt you.  You hurt people.  Important relationships fall apart.  Your everyday responsibilities become unmanageable.  Where can you find peace in all of that?

If you are like me, you want some practical ideas!  Of course I want peace, but how do I get there?  And then something extremely traumatic happens and the urgency for calm and peace becomes even greater.  A diagnosis is revealed.  A secret life is brought forth.  A loved one dies.   There is no peace in these huge adversities.  Or maybe you, God, have a plan for us.

“Be still and know that I am God.”  (Ps. 46:10) 

Slowing down, being still, finding a way to settle my heart down, letting someone hold me…might be the very first steps that allow us to be in God’s presence. 

Maybe listening to what he proposes for our next right step is the best place to begin.  It could be he has some good ideas for a nugget of peace that will propel us to the next hour, or day.  Perhaps it is a thought or emotion that traverses through us: Have cereal for dinner.  Go to bed early.  Call a friend. Open your Bible.  Cancel your plans.  Cry.  These are not earth-shattering steps, they are just small, next right steps.  And this step leads to another, and another, and another.  We can begin to feel a cluster of peaceful moments—even days—as we do this.

When Elijah fled from Jezebel who threatened to kill him, we see God directing him in very specific next steps.  Eat and drink something for the journey is too much for you…get out of the cave and go stand on the mountain…the Lord is going to pass by, and you must listen for direction.  Elijah did not find the Lord’s voice in the great wind, or earthquake, or fire, but in a gentle whisper.  Next steps were given to him to go back the way he came and then anoint a new king…(excerpts from 1 Kings 19: 7-16)

“Be still and know that I am God.”

It can be difficult to determine that next right step to peace, because when we are not at peace, our anxious, hurried nature wants to control.  We want to DO something, or PLAN something, or FIGURE something out.  We take it upon ourselves to fix our whole life to find peace.  But this is not what God is asking of us.

“Be still and know that I am God.”

What disturbs your peace today?  Lay your emotions and thoughts about your disturbance on the mountain top.  Listen for the gentle whisper about your next right step as God  passes by.