Most of my friends are still very worried about COVID 19. I admit…I am not. I am so over it that I can hardly see it in my rearview mirror anymore. So much has happened that is more concerning to me. More shootings here. More first responders leaving their jobs. And still and forever, the dark cloud of the George Floyd murder and the plunder that followed.
Bad things happen, yet we must continue with our lives and our work. There are 330 million people in this country, and luckily, 99.9 percent of us will never make the news. (Hallelujah.) But those few news reports cannot be allowed to constantly put us in an upset and agitated state. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; … Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
He didn’t add anything like, “On bad days, when people have been wronged, or when you feel horrible about what’s going on in the world, I’m going to pull back on the ‘peace’ thing, sorry.”
As Christians, we believe that when Jesus died on the cross, he wiped away our sins. We then received the Holy Spirit and the inner peace that Jesus had promised. I’m not talking about momentary peace, like the kids are finally back in school, or the neighbor’s dog quit barking. I’m talking inner knowing, inner glowing, in spite of all the sadness the world throws at us—we remember that God is still in control.
So how do we manage to keep our peace in difficult times like these?
We rest. Bad things look worse when we are not rested and restored. We cannot do our best for God, or our families, or our employers or ourselves if we do not regularly rest, seated in God’s presence. One of the great Bible stories surrounds the pagan queen of Israel, Jezebel, who promised to kill the prophet Elijah after he (literally) cut up 400 of her favorite pagan prophets. He ran to the wilderness for his life, “Sore afraid” and exhausted. 1 Kings tells us that A Voice told him to eat and then to rest and then again, to eat and rest some more. Elijah did rest, seated in God’s presence, he regained his peace and fortified his connection with the One Who strengthens us. Then and only then was he able to go on to finish his work for the Kingdom.
For 21st century humans, as for prophets, being seated in the rest of God starts with stopping to rest, mindfulness, and connection to the Father. Like Elijah, when we rest in Him we are able to get our feet back under us and stand so that we can walk in His love, and run the race He has led us to run.
Remember on Seinfeld? George Costanza’s father (Jerry Stiller) used to scream “Serenity Now!”
Yah, that doesn’t work.
Nancy 🙂
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