Peace

    I realize I am a little late on the advent calendar. Last week was filled with getting finals done and saying goodbye to roommates and friends. Sorry for the late blog, but that for sure is the busy student life. When thinking of peace, I am sure that we all imagine something similar: sitting on a quiet beach watching the waves of water, no noise, just stillness. Is that the reality of life though? The reality of life is that there is noise all around us. Peace is not the same as a manicure with no worries at all or a quiet day on the beach. Peace is not just that. We often want that type of peace, but in my situation assignments get in the way. We desire quiet time with the Lord, and might even see it as peaceful, but family, friends, or the thought of assignments may interrupt that time. I know my biggest struggle when my quiet time gets interrupted is remaining patient and not getting frustrated. I believe that peace though is more than the quiet time we may get with God. The peace comes from being made whole through the sacrifice and grace of Christ. We can have peace not because we find a quiet spot, but because Jesus Christ has come and is coming again. 

    The Hebrew root of peace is shalom which means to be complete, whole, or sound. At church, I thought of peace as something different than what people often think of peace as. Where people want to avoid troubles in order to be at peace, I reflected on the importance of walking through struggles with the Prince of Peace with us. Being at peace does not mean we avoid suffering at all costs; it instead means that we go through suffering knowing that the Lord is with us. When we walk with Jesus through our suffering, we are walking with the Prince of Peace. The truth is that when we are told to "Go in peace", we are not being told to completely avoid any struggles in our life. We are being told to walk with the Prince of Peace. In the same way, Jesus comes as the Prince of Peace to bring peace to Earth. He did not come to an Earth already in peace, but he came as peace. We have to see ourselves as children of the light and of the Prince of Peace. We can go in peace when we understand that we are not going into a world of peace, but we as God's children are going to bring peace to the situations we come across.  

    One thing I have had to learn is being at peace is not having it all together. In my sophomore year of college, I felt terrible because my inner world was starting to come out and I definitely did not have it all together. Before my sophomore year, I felt I did so good of not showing anyone what was going on inside of me, but this was a step of being made complete in Christ was having to let what was inside of me come into the light. It was hard, but I had amazing friends with me as it all started to come to light. I felt very uncomfortable in my identity as a Christian right then navigating big questions of my faith. However, I became more used to this learning process. I make mistakes along the way and learn from them. I am not here to be perfect, but to be sanctified through Christ. I have peace in knowing Christ is with me as I grow and heal from things. 

     When you think of your peace, is the peace you have based on your circumstances? Is your peace dependent on if you get an A in all your classes? Is your peace dependent on if you can get a quiet place alone to study scripture? Is your peace dependent on knowing every answer to what your life calling is? Is your peace dependent on if your job or workplace is a nice place to work? Or is your peace dependent on knowing the Lord as your rock, knowing that he will never leave nor forsake you, knowing that he has come and is to come again? Christmas is a time of celebrating the coming of the Messiah! Peace in the holidays can be knowing that if things do get hard, Jesus can still be celebrated. Nothing separates us from his love and we can celebrate that. Grief may come, but we are still loved by him. Family struggles can come, but we are still loved by him. The picture-perfect family Christmas may not happen exactly the way as planned, but we are still loved by him.