As we walked home, lost in thought
I pondered His peace. What is peace to you?
That day, rescued and lifted by the mercies
Of the Great Shepherd, I pondered peace.
Peace is when you are a mess, you know it,
And you expect the worst, but grace shows
Up with surprising smiles, love reaches out
Without condemnation, joy quiets your fears
And drains your tears. Peace is when I am safe
In the hands, in the way, under the care
Of the Good Shepherd who laid down His life
That I, once blind and lost, be found and saved.

Food For Thought: Whereas a lot of people will give anything for happiness, I’d give anything for my peace. I am at my best when I am at peace. My views are broader and more objective, my performance at its peak. The world could fall apart and crumble at my feet, so long as I have that peace within, I will not be shaken. In the absence of peace, I am a mess: my thoughts are skewed, my views are myopic, my opinions biased. Little things get to me and I am easily irritated. I get over reactive even over nothing. I struggle with things that once were nothing. Public opinion take an exaggerated position and pressures undo me. I fret, I worry, and I break down over nothing and anything. When peace is missing, I don’t feel safe, I don’t feel comfortable, and I don’t feel good. Not that false sense of safety that lulls us to sleep when we should be up and out or lets us get away with wrong. Lack of inner peace is not a place I like to go and that is why I’d give anything to maintain that peace that passes all understanding, for which I paid nothing. I’d do anything to retain the peace that is my confidence through all that life deals. I learned that this is the place the Father calls us to dwell.

Scripture: I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. Psalm 37: 25.

Prayer: Dear Lord, whether life goes in or out, up or down, here or there, be my peace within and without, amen.