His Peace

"I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give" (John 14:27a, NLT).

When I was a fourteen I attended a Quaker school in Ohio. It was at Olney that I learned about the freedom found in living a life of peace. That teaching on peace created a need in my heart to seek God and the peace that He offers. His peace has spoken rest in the midst of hardship and grief...just as it does now at this time in my life. It tells me to love and not inflame. It tells me there is freedom in not feeling the need to have the last word. It tells me not to be reactionary but to place another before myself. I am human and make mistakes...just like anyone else. But I pray to have the humility to realize that I don't always have the right answer. If forgiveness cannot flow in my life, then I miss out on the peace that anchors me safely in a world that makes no sense. We need courage to forgive, and love that looks beyond fault and recognizes need. "We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear...That old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everyone blind...The time is always right to do the right thing...Peace is not necessarily a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal" (Martin Luther King, Jr.). If I choose to live His love, His forgiveness, and allow His peace to direct my life perhaps another person may know its freedom.