What does peace look like?
When I imagine peace, I go back to one of the many autumn evenings I spent sitting in a tree-stand in mid-Michigan, listening to squirrels chattering, nuts falling, branches cracking, and leaves rustling in the breeze. My eyes and ears were alert to any movement since deer are generally quiet, nervous creatures and could easily slip in and out behind me without noticing. The sun getting lower in the sky and finally that moment of twilight would catch a sound in time, maybe the first croak of the night frogs, that would seem to make everything hold its breath and pause - for just a small second. And I was grateful to be alive in this great big beautiful world.
Peace is easy to imagine that way. Anyone with a love of the country knows that a walk, bike ride, or car ride with the windows down on back-ways and dirt roads has no equal. There's nothing like watching a sunset on top of a ridge in the prairies of North Dakota with only animal noises and bird music and wind around you. It clears the mind and makes everything stop for a second - allows you to catch your breath and renew your vigor for life again. God's very finger shows up like no other way in these moments and the awe of just how great and glorious and all powerful He is wraps around your heart.
But what about when I'm not in those places?
Here, I live on a dirt road, but that's because the small roads in the Dominican Republic in general may or may not be kept up. There are sounds of construction on yet another hotel/condo going up kitty-corner to my front door that sometimes don't stop until 10 o'clock at night - especially when they're pouring cement...(not a fun sound). Animal noises mostly consist of barking dogs and fighting street cats.
The beach. That's a beautiful place and one I go to. The lapping waves and sound of the wind in the palms is not overrated most times.
But what to do when much of the time there are a lot of other people hanging out by shores as well? Everywhere I look, there are people. On crowded streets, behind blaring horns, even when lying on my bed at night I can hear voices drift by from some activity or other going on not too far away.
I am not ungrateful in anyway. But where is there a place of peace in a growing tourist town?
And I've been in desperate need of some peace.
The winds of change have been hitting more like a hurricane force storm. Change that was expected turns out completely differently than planned. Unplanned for, life-altering change gets thrown in with enough force to knock any unsuspecting person down. Exciting change brings transition which brings growing pains which is enough in and of itself.
In Numbers 11:23 God asks Moses, "Is the Lord's arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you." He's been asking me the same question lately.
This morning while riding to work with tears streaming down my face under my helmet, horns blaring around me, in the middle of congested traffic, I asked God to give me a little peace. He had asked me to entrust everything to Him, again, the evening before while I was sitting on my bed and wondering what life will look like in a mere 3 months - if what I think it will look like, or thought it should look like, will even be relevant. He promised a peace that passes understanding in the Bible and as I hung on to that promise and trusted that what He says is true, in the middle of the noise and chaos, stress and worry, I felt peace. There wasn't a moment in time pause or washing calm, but there was peace. Was it magical? No. Was it breathtaking? No. But it was real. It is real.
Peace doesn't come automatically. It's something we train ourselves to find through trust and confidence in God and His promises through His spoken word. But it's real. I can't explain it, but it's worth having. And it helps the breathing to come steadily back.
When I imagine peace, I go back to one of the many autumn evenings I spent sitting in a tree-stand in mid-Michigan, listening to squirrels chattering, nuts falling, branches cracking, and leaves rustling in the breeze. My eyes and ears were alert to any movement since deer are generally quiet, nervous creatures and could easily slip in and out behind me without noticing. The sun getting lower in the sky and finally that moment of twilight would catch a sound in time, maybe the first croak of the night frogs, that would seem to make everything hold its breath and pause - for just a small second. And I was grateful to be alive in this great big beautiful world.
Peace is easy to imagine that way. Anyone with a love of the country knows that a walk, bike ride, or car ride with the windows down on back-ways and dirt roads has no equal. There's nothing like watching a sunset on top of a ridge in the prairies of North Dakota with only animal noises and bird music and wind around you. It clears the mind and makes everything stop for a second - allows you to catch your breath and renew your vigor for life again. God's very finger shows up like no other way in these moments and the awe of just how great and glorious and all powerful He is wraps around your heart.
But what about when I'm not in those places?
Here, I live on a dirt road, but that's because the small roads in the Dominican Republic in general may or may not be kept up. There are sounds of construction on yet another hotel/condo going up kitty-corner to my front door that sometimes don't stop until 10 o'clock at night - especially when they're pouring cement...(not a fun sound). Animal noises mostly consist of barking dogs and fighting street cats.
The beach. That's a beautiful place and one I go to. The lapping waves and sound of the wind in the palms is not overrated most times.
But what to do when much of the time there are a lot of other people hanging out by shores as well? Everywhere I look, there are people. On crowded streets, behind blaring horns, even when lying on my bed at night I can hear voices drift by from some activity or other going on not too far away.
I am not ungrateful in anyway. But where is there a place of peace in a growing tourist town?
And I've been in desperate need of some peace.
The winds of change have been hitting more like a hurricane force storm. Change that was expected turns out completely differently than planned. Unplanned for, life-altering change gets thrown in with enough force to knock any unsuspecting person down. Exciting change brings transition which brings growing pains which is enough in and of itself.
In Numbers 11:23 God asks Moses, "Is the Lord's arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you." He's been asking me the same question lately.
This morning while riding to work with tears streaming down my face under my helmet, horns blaring around me, in the middle of congested traffic, I asked God to give me a little peace. He had asked me to entrust everything to Him, again, the evening before while I was sitting on my bed and wondering what life will look like in a mere 3 months - if what I think it will look like, or thought it should look like, will even be relevant. He promised a peace that passes understanding in the Bible and as I hung on to that promise and trusted that what He says is true, in the middle of the noise and chaos, stress and worry, I felt peace. There wasn't a moment in time pause or washing calm, but there was peace. Was it magical? No. Was it breathtaking? No. But it was real. It is real.
Peace doesn't come automatically. It's something we train ourselves to find through trust and confidence in God and His promises through His spoken word. But it's real. I can't explain it, but it's worth having. And it helps the breathing to come steadily back.
