Finding Peace
Becca Leander | December 4, 2008
Its winter in Colorado, and some days our winter weather looks more like a battle than a wonderland, as the wind mixed with snow blows everything around, including my patio furniture. These days I try to stay home and keep warm. Highways come to a standstill, and it's a traffic nightmare. This winter is hard for many, as the economy threatens the peace and joy on earth we hope for this time of year. So where do we go for peace? Is it found in the shopping malls, the parties, the relatives coming into town (I guess some don't look for peace there anyway)? I haven’t found it there among the busyness. To take hold of true peace we have to make room in our hearts. Is your heart full of peace, or do these difficult times bring confusion within? Perhaps it’s the daily pressures, the to-do lists, and the struggle to overcome discouragement.
Clutter around my house is one of my pet peeves. Friends and family sometimes call me Miss Organized. I like to keep my socks separated in little compartments. I sort CDs for fun. This is weird to you, probably! But, thanks to my pet peeve, my house is free of clutter! It's one thing to organize our living spaces, and another to organize the clutter in our hearts. To simplify our hearts we must return to the basics - the fundamental reason we live. We live to know Jesus Christ, and to make Him known. All other events and circumstances come after. It does not mean our circumstances instantly change, but we can thrive through the harsh winters because our hearts are warm through the peace that comes when we surrender to Christ.
Jesus says in John 16:33, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
This verse comes after one of my favorite chapters in the Bible: John 15. It is the chapter about the vine and branches. Jesus tells us He is the Vine and we are the branches. We cannot grow or have real life unless we are with the Vine! Jesus is saying that without Him we are dead. He says that there will be times of trouble in this world, but the Vine is our peace through every battle we're in. If we leave the Vine, we leave the peace.
Today the snow is falling gently out my window and it reminds me of the peace that Jesus gives. It comes when we're connected to the Vine, our source of peace. It doesn't always have a feeling attached to it. It's much steadier than that. If we simplify our hearts, invite Jesus to take control and set up His throne there, the peace He gives will surpass any obstacle.
Peace comes with a promise. "I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Jesus in Matthew 28:20)
Finding Peace
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