The Prince of Peace

Many moons ago, back when my beloved sister and I used to share a room, we were on a "Trading Spaces" kick and decided to "remodel." We chose a Hawaiian theme, (don't ask me why- we don't even know!) and our parents bought us a poster to hang on our wall that became the color scheme and theme.

It was a big picture of a beach on some remote island. The sun shone, the white sand glistened, and the inviting, crystal-clear water sparkled as palm trees swayed in the distance. In big letters it read, "RELAX," and it had some corny saying at the bottom like, "The poor desire riches, the rich desire heaven, but the wise desire tranquility." Oh, brother.

But during my tumultuously emotional pre-teen years, I would sometimes stare at that poster and wish that I could experience that peace. I imagined dipping my toes in the too-blue-to-be-real water, or sipping lemonade in a hammock as I watched the sun setting. I used to pray for that kind of peace.

Now I realize that what I really must've wanted was a vacation.

Jesus has been pouring peace into my heart by the gallon. Yesterday I didn't feel worried about anything for the first time in weeks and weeks. I tried to figure out why I felt that way, because, honestly, nothing in the natural realm had changed. Then I realized that He was filling me with the peace I had been praying for, and I was finally accepting it.

You see, real peace has nothing to do with what is going on in our circumstances. It has nothing to do with drinking tropical beverages out of a coconut shell on some abandoned island.

I've been trying to imagine what it might be like to be living in Joplin right now, and I just can't. I heard that two-thirds of the city was the destroyed, and that's the size of Kalamazoo. It seems unfathomable that everything would just suddenly be gone. The day it happened, I saw this picture:



That, my friends, is peace. It stands in the midst of everything else, because it comes from the One who stands in the midst of everything else. All we have to do is rely upon Him and He promises to fill us.