Peace Be With You

The second week of Advent calls us to focus on peace. As I tried to think of how to describe peace for this blog, my thoughts went to what the opposite of peace feels like. If we don’t know anxiety, discontent, or agitation, we can’t know peace. That’s the paradox we face with a lot of human emotions. It’s like they travel in pairs; sadness and joy, fear and calm, gratitude and envy. You wouldn’t know one without having experienced the other.

I have experienced the opposite of peace many a time. Often, our peace is stolen by unavoidable situations that come along with just living in the world. Only one check-out line at the Dollar Store, a half-lit string of Christmas lights, or finding out too late that the grandkids/kids Christmas lists have changed are just a few of the peace-stealing moments this time of year.

Just as often, the experience of my peace being stolen is of my own making. Those times when I myself am the thief of my peace. I steal the peace that God intends for me by unnecessary worry, inability to forgive, ruminating, and not living in the moment.

Someone once told me, if you don’t know what to pray for, pray for anything that steals your peace, no matter how big or small. When I do this, my prayer isn’t for God to give me peace, rather it is a prayer to stir up the power of the Holy Spirit to restore my peace. Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It’s what happens when we believe in and call on the Holy Spirit. It is there for us always, this calming blanket of peace, we just have to put it on.

During this second week in Advent, let’s let peace creep into every situation and every interaction. Let’s blanket ourselves in the peace that is a fruit of our oneness with the Holy Spirit.

And maybe just stay away from the Dollar Store!

Joan