What brings you peace? Or rather what when eliminated, provides you space for peace? The days leading up to the Winter holidays leave little room for peace. Our culture tells us to be busy, shop, send cards, bake cookies, prepare food, and attend events all while trying to enjoy the people we love and feel the "peace" of the season. When I decided to wash our Peace sign, which hangs all year on our window, it came out of the dryer looking like a crumpled reminder. It was a word scramble, a mere memory of what it was intended to convey. That was exactly how I was feeling at that moment, to be honest; as if peace had no place in my life to spread out, relax, and ease my mind and heart. My son does most of our decorating in and around the house, and when he spread the sign across the window again, that's when it hit me. We have to give PEACE a place to spread out and display itself. It can't fit where we don't allow it. And, it's too gentle to force its way in.
My hope for you today and in the days ahead is that you will find a way to make space for PEACE in your life and the lives of those around you. Perhaps you need to add something such as time to read inspirational writings or to walk in your neighborhood. But maybe you need to eliminate something, such as a grudge you've been holding, anger that lingers, or time browsing how other people display their lives on social media. Whatever your path, no one else can clear the way for PEACE to find you. Peace calls us gently, and intimately. It will not force its way in, and when it arrives, you will need to be deliberate about keeping its place sacred. Today and all year long, I wish you PEACE!
