Peace

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.

I have for some time been quietly stressed about what my life will look like next year. It’s that balance of having enough (whatever THAT looks like!) money coming in with as much time to do and be mission/relationship/family as possible as well I guess is the fact that I one day want my vocation, life family job, community to kind of all bleed into one as much as that could be done. I don’t wont to be pulled in a million different directions yet at the same time I want a good diversity as I get restless with only one focus. I want to do things that honour my passions and sense of calling, yet I don’t feel I HAVE to always be paid to fulfill all these passions and ‘callings’. I then have the ugly issue of being a bit of a people pleaser, so when someone says, ‘let’s do this’ – I am thinking, ‘sure, if that would make you happy, or like me more or...’, or someone comes to me and suggests, ‘you would be great at this job‘, it pats my ego and I think, ‘yes I would be wouldn’t I!‘.

So when I read a devotional thought today by Charles Ringma on the theme of peace, I thought it was very comforting as was the scriptural theme (above). So I thought I would type the lot out!

Finding Peace Within
Learning to Be At Home With Ourselves.

We need to come to an inner peace if our life is to be perennially productive. Such inner peace is a fruit of the way we consistently live. It is not the product of an escape from our circumstances – although we frequently think that a change in our circumstances will provide us with the answers we seek and the peace we long for.
Peace comes from being at home with ourselves. It comes from being thankful for the way God has made us and gifted us. It comes from the joy of giving and an appreciation for all that we receive. It comes from accepting ourselves and celebrating all that is good, while working on what needs to change.
Peace comes from being loved and having the satisfaction of achievement and the challenge of new goals. Peace wells up from within, but is clearly related to the way we live and the choices we make.
But it is seldom the result of much-having. It does not necessarily come with great success. Instead it is the unexpected gift. It is the surprise. It is there even when we didn’t expect it. It remains even when the going is tough. And it can grow even in the midst of pain and difficulty.
If peace finds its expression in being at home with ourselves, we clearly need to stop looking elsewhere. Henri Nouwen laments the fact that “we do not trust our inner most self as an intimate place.” He notes that we “anxiously wander around hoping to find [peace] where we are not.” Because peace is not simply the fruit of our circumstances, it can only come from within. And it can only abide there if we are at peace with ourselves.