Our world is in turmoil. A country reeling from the aftermath of earthquakes and tsunamis, the world watching with baited breath as the Middle East and North Africa explodes again and people get killed as if is just another violent movie on TV, the murder of a terrorist (yes, I chose those words carefully), a world economy that is fragile.... everything that can be shaken is being shaken. We celebrate the death of an evil man, call another's dead children "collateral damage". We live in a world that has become desensitized to human beings' dying.People hold peace talks, search for inner peace and decide what actions will bring about peace. Doctors write scripts so that people can just be more at peace, talk show hosts interview hosts of gurus who will tell you how to find it.
But that's just it. Peace is not something you can negotiate for (you might find some compromises, but is there peace in people's hearts?). Peace is not something you can learn. Peace is not something you can buy and peace is not attainable by filling the vacuum inside with wealth, power, crassness or any other promise that the world media would make us. True peace is not something you can just achieve because you will it to be.
Attaining peace is hard, but yet so simple. Jesus said: My peace I give you, a peace that goes beyond any understanding. The angels announces His birth with a message of peace to all the earth.
And that's where things seems to get really strange. From the outside looking in, people sometimes might look at you, thinking that you have lost the plot or do not understand the questions of life. And if you look at your circumstances, youshould be panicking or berating others or at least complain bitterly about life being unfair. But peace seems to cover over all of those emotions. So much so that you might even question your own sanity.
It gives you the wisdom to know whatever you are going through shall also pass.... It gives you faith to believe in that which you can not see. It teaches you that everyone in this world get their moments of jubilant joy and their moments of terrible grief. Peace teaches you that no matter what, God will be their with you. It teaches you that life takes strange paths, but that even if on a physical level there seems to be no open door, in the spiritual, God has not forgotten. Peace, almost like cotton wool or the womb of a mother, wraps around you and cushions you against life's bumps and major disasters.
Peace helps you when you need to learn about faith and truth and patience. It takes you through the situation where you are down to nothing... but God.
Peace helps you to go on, even where there seems no way that you can. Peace shows you that it's not about striving but about resting. Peace teaches you to turn, to Him, the Prince of Peace.
May you experience the true peace that comes with knowing Him. It is easy, not hard.
(If you'd like to know more, leave a comment on my blog. God bless you.)
