Sometimes We Have To Look For Peace

In this challenging time, I think we are all looking for peace in our own ways. Each of us is conducting our peace search the only way we've ever known to pursue peace. And if you're like me, now and in the past, that search can too often come up empty. 

The biggest mistake we make in that search, I think, is too often we think peace is something we find or it finds us, and not something we have to work for. 

The thing is, we are wired to be anxious. We are wired to be constantly on the lookout for the next danger or struggle in our lives. It's this big favor/curse our brains do for us to keep us safe. So, by our very nature, if we did nothing to counteract ourselves, we would live in a constant state of uneasiness.

Yesterday, in my own pursuit of peace, I spent time in Phillipians chapter 4. The popular chapter that promises us a "peace that surpasses all understanding." I mean, if we're going to look for peace, please, give me a bucket full of that peace that just blows my mind away!  

We are told in this chapter that prayer is our road to this peace. Bring all of our concerns to God. But you know what, sometimes prayer just seems insufficient. Not that I'm diminishing the power of prayer, but sometimes I think we see prayer as a handoff. Here God, I've got this thing going on in my life, I want to hand it over to you with this prayer, so how long do you think before you get around to fixing this thing? I've got a life to live. 

But, and I don't think I ever made this connection in this chapter in Phillipians, immediately following this recipe of sorts we get for a peace that surpasses all understanding, we get a chore list. We are given an assignment. It goes like this (Phillipians 4:8-9) -
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

I think I've always read this added assignment or this chore list as something outside of the recipe for peace instead of ingredients in it. I just feel like I hear God saying in this - come to me to unload these things that are bothering you, but once your mind is unloaded, here are the things I need you to THINK about and PRACTICE. 

I hear God saying, you've come to me with your fears and anxieties around this virus, now you have space to think about the good things. 

Listen, I'm well aware of alot of the privileges I have in my life right now that make it easier for me to think about the good things. Life is a challenge, but it's without the challenges many have. At least for now. 

But I've been in some rock bottom peaceless places in my life. And my rise from those places began with what I insisted that my mind think about. When you're in the darkest places of life, and you spend your hours there praying for light but never focus on it, never think about it or practice the things that look and feel like light, then you are never going to find light. 

Today, I encourage you, when you feel the anxieties we are all naturally inclined to lean into, think about something that is good in your life. Think about something that is true: I have my family, I'm healthy, I have friends checking on me, I've survived hard times before, I'm discovering things about myself I didn't know before. On and on.
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Today, make a commitment to work for peace. I think when we begin working for peace, sometimes it finds us in some unexpected places.