The Ultimate Source of Peace
Peace is one of those concepts that is just elusive enough that it makes it challenging to describe... We are likely to have peace of mind when we take care of items on our to-do list, when we simplify our lives, and use natural products. Minimizing the noise in our life and setting up boundaries are a couple of other practices that can decrease the stress and amplify the peace. But what really is "peace"? Where does it come from and how do we get more of it? I started Making Room for Peace to answer those very questions. The truth is that yes, there are many external practices that we can do to make room for peace in our lives however true peace comes from within. It requires the quieting of our-self. Something almost unheard of in the world that we live in. Peace mandates the calming of the noise in our minds and that which surrounds us. It demands that we physically pause and take time to be still and reflective. Sarah Ban Breathnach once said that, "whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only if we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart." (1) We must be in a state of receiving in order to obtain peace.
So how do we get there? You would think it would be as easy as slowing down and quieting ourselves for a few minutes and bam, we've got peace...but there is more to it than that. There are a couple of steps in fact to get to a state of reception, to a place of peace. The first step is realizing that something's gotta give. Our demanding schedules and high expectations have created an unsustainable lifestyle that lead to nowhere but misery. Something needs to change. If we took a moment to reflect it wouldn't take long for us to agree that yes, in fact something really does need to change... From the moment we wake up to the moment we pass out at night, we're going one hundred miles an hour. We're taxing our bodies, our minds, and our loved ones. We're weighing ourselves down with expectations. Expectations from family, friends, work, and social media; but really (and mainly) ourselves. We demand so much of ourselves and when the balls start to drop or we "come up short" we begin to feel like failures. Friend, you are not a failure. You are human. One of the most freeing things that you could ever do for yourself is accept this and realize that because of it, we are imperfect beings. There is only one source of perfection and that's God himself. He knows that we human and that we're going to mistakes; and yet, He loves us any way. He offers us salvation any way. Accept that something's gotta give and that there needs to be a change.
After coming to this realization we must then do the work to surrender. Surrender control. Surrender and lay down all of our worries, our burdens, and our sin. It's time to release. Surrender can also take shape in the form of letting go of what no longer serves us (i.e. our physical possessions, thoughts and behaviors). Once we have done the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual work of shedding, we enter into a state where we are able to receive - we've made room for peace. We've made space to accept understanding. One of the most life-changing beliefs that we could ever accept is that: we are human and that we can't do this alone. We are imperfect beings in needs of a perfect and loving God. He came to this Earth in order to bring peace (2). He doesn't promise a world without conflict and strife but He promises to never leave us and to be our everlasting source of peace. That friends is what the core essence of "peace". While there are many things that we can do in life to create a sense of peace such as de-cluttering, eating well, and using natural products - those are only short-term providers. Long-lasting peace comes in the form of salvation.
