We all want it. We may not always be able to put into words the deep desire for it, but it's there. The ache that something is missing and the lights and fa-la-la-la-la's just aren't hitting the spot the way we feel they should. We're awake, but we want to be sleeping. And when we sleep, we feel angst that the hole is somehow not yet filled.
Peace.
The storm surrounding you is overwhelming and peace is far from what you feel. The unknowns are too dark to stare deeply into, tomorrow is a world away and it's yesterday that you crave.
Peace.
It isn't a feeling, though it's the feeling you seek. Peace isn't bundled up warm and fuzzy "I'm ok's" wrapped with a perfect bow. It isn't a space of life that is fully and finally filled with the hopes and joys of all the years. It isn't a mountaintop achievement on earth that tells you that you've arrived.
Peace is a person. Peace is Jesus Christ. Peace is and was His death on the cross that was anything but peaceful, but brought about the opportunity to live and breathe and be with Peace Himself. Did you know He did it for you? Did you forget that His Peace is who He is and who He is is with you and for you?
My beautiful sisters, this is the best news of the season. Good tidings of great joy is packaged in Peace. Not the peace that we attempt to manufacture in the chaos of the daily grind. It's in the willingness to look up. To look out and over the here and now to something steadying. To something grounding and life breathing. Peace is a Person. Peace is already within you and for you.
It can't be broken or damaged. It isn't changing with the diagnosis. It isn't smothered by the weight of your hearts ache. It can't be extinguished when you choose not to receive it, it remains. Like a patient friend, waiting, there, reaching out toward you, until you let go. Letting go of the here and now, not to ignore it, but to see it dimly in light of His amazing grace. Reach for it friend, let go of your attempt to control, and He will reach back, He will catch you.
Look to it, and it is yours.
Peace.
Can you see it now? It's been there all the while.
Why He Came
We picture it clearly and see it around our homes. Jesus, Sovereign King, yet, He's a baby, in need of the milk from His mother. Fragile. Vulnerable. But, He wasn't just completing a heavenly experiment. He came to bring "peace on earth and goodwill to all." He came to bring Himself to you.
The most well laid plans aren't usually fulfilled unless their completion has a reward. His reward? Peace for you and me. Peace on earth.
Peace in The Chaos
But it isn't here. Peace is nowhere to be found. The sirens and the arguments overwhelm the silent Hallelujahs. The fear and anxiety drown out the joy.
There's a tension between the here and now and the promises of heaven. There's a strain between who we are and the King we are to act like. A pull forcing us to gaze deeply at our circumstances, darkening our ability to look up and over them to His peace surrounding the storm. We find ourselves here, but we aren't of this world beautiful daughters. How can we live and breathe and do all the things we are called to, while experiencing this peace that is ours?
As we strive to live for Christ and like Christ in the present moment, we are also waiting for second Advent. Yearning for His coming. In 2 Peter 3, it says that He will come to destroy and to build. Opposites. He will destroy the earth and heavens as they are now and he will recreate new ones, where righteousness stands and peace is steadily experienced.
In Matthew 3, we look forward to His coming with the vision of Him separating and gathering. Opposition again. The imagery of a farmer sorting his wheat from the chaff parallels Christs judgement at His return. He will burn the chaff, those that don't know him, and separate them from His children who choose Him. He will gather His sons and daughters to himself.
And today, I feel this in my heart. He is both being my Peace in the chaos and guiding me away from the noise to seek Him for the peace only He can provide.
I'm 22 weeks pregnant as I write this in mid November, we are coming off of a long 3 weeks of sickness, and Judah is experiencing something I cannot quite put my finger on. Separation anxiety? Residual sick feelings? Just being one? Honestly, I don't know. But, I am weary. Yet, this morning, God called me away from it all. He called me to join Him. To seek Him.
So I sat here, with coffee in hand, and I waited. I prayed, "God, ok, I'm here, I'm listening." "God what do I do here? I have so much to get done and so much to figure out."
It is an act of laying down my will to really experience His will for me. He calls me to separate myself from the world to seek His Holiness. He sanctifies me in the hard days and then calls me to rest in His peace. He is calling me to look up, to look out and over the circumstances of today. To meet His gaze and receive His outpouring of Peace. Even here, even now. Am I willing though? Can I be strengthened to walk through the hard to get to the peace? The God who sees me and aches with me is simultaneously reaching for me, pulling me to a quiet escape in Him. "Come away with me my love."
He is calling you too.
How to Attain It, Really
Will yourself to receive it by sitting with God
Sit in a quiet place and open your hands to truly receive it. It isn't so much the posture of your body as it is the posture of your heart. For me, sitting in a specific chair with my knees pulled tight to my chest in the morning, postures my mind to communicate with God.
Open His Word. Maybe begin with Psalm 85 today. Read about His unfailing love and unflinching truth.
Journal. Write down your anxieties. Lay them before God and pair them with His promises for you. For example, today, I felt overwhelmed. I wrote it down and God reminded me that His word says explicitly that "When my heart is overwhelmed I can go to the Rock that is higher than I." I was reminded that I was looking at my circumstances instead of the God who is above them.
How to Be It
Peace is intimately connected to righteousness, faithfulness, and a refusal to fall back into foolish ways (Psalm 85). We can't do or be any of these things without first receiving Christ within us. But, once we have, God tells us that we are able to walk in a new life, freed from our past and powered by His spirit.
We walk in righteousness. "Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other." -Psalm 85:10. When we walk in righteousness we will experience peace. Cut out any and all things that pull you into sinful patterns. If social media has been causing you to look at your body, marital status, or overall self worth as anything less than beautiful then take a break! If a friend or family member consistently drags you down or causes you to sin, set some hard lined boundaries.
Faithfulness. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Walk with Him faithfully. Trusting Him when you can't quite see His hands, but you know His heart is good.
"Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly." Psalm 85:8. When we realize that the person we were yesterday is wearing grave clothes, we can stand straighter and walk in the peace of God with us, today. In this, we can ooze peace to the people around us. They will see and want what you have. And you can share the peace of Jesus with them as the most free and liberating gift!
This Christmas, make peace the gift most often received by you and most likely given by you. Start each morning with a heart check. Have you grabbed it today? Do you see Him? Can you feel His peace?
Receive Peace as the person He is, unwavering, unfailing, recklessly in love with YOU.
Love always,
Jessica
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