My husband comes from a family of ten siblings, whereby he is the youngest. I come from a family of ten siblings, whereby I am the oldest. There was no absence of quietness in either of our homes while growing up. With that many children in any family, there was constant activity…. playing, talking, fighting, yelling and crying! But there was also nap time. I mean, we had to sleep eventually, right? Now this does not mean that some of the noise was not pleasant noise. There was laughter, especially while playing games. Laughter is contagious and to hear one sibling start, it created an avalanche that would cascade into a cornucopia of giggles that could end up with tears running down the face, holding of the belly and jaws hurting! I am talking about being downright “weak”!
This month my focus is on “peace”. Peace which is quite the opposite of confusion and chaos. I am focusing on pursuing and maintaining that inward tranquility-calmness, quietness and rest that very often eludes us for whatever reason. Peace does not mean an absence of noise. All sound is not bad for us.
One of my favorite verses of scripture is where we find Jesus and his disciples in a boat, and a great windstorm erupted so much so that the waves beat against their vessel, and they started to intake water. Those brothers got scared and could not believe their eyes! Jesus was lying on a pillow, sound asleep! How in the world could he be sleeping at a time like that? I bet it was a lot of noise going on. There was the noise of the storm. There was the sound of fear in their voices. They woke him up and voiced their concern, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” The Master got up and only spoke three words, “PEACE, BE STILL!” And instantly all that had robbed them of their peace was gone! He proved in that one gesture that:
- He cared about what happened to them… God cares about everything that concerns you!
- He cared enough to wake up, get up and do something about the situation…. He cares enough to protect you, even when everything around you wants to do you harm!
- He has the authority and the power to act and knows exactly what to do… You can trust him with the situation!
The Hebrew word for peace is Shalom, and it means completeness-no deficiency and no lack. It means soundness and welfare. The Greek word for peace is Eirene, and it means unity, a coming back together as in a fractured relationship being made whole. At the beginning of the year, I knew that this year there was going to be a lot of fractured relationships that were going to be healed and restored. I knew that where, in the past, there was confusion and chaos, God would bring healing and restoration. Now a word to the wise, that does not mean that everything will be perfect, especially not all at once. But it means that God cares, and He is faithful to act on your behalf. Lord, I will have a heaping helping of peace please!
