When Peace Trickles

Sometimes peace flows over us like a rushing river. Sometimes it is as elusive as a trickle in a dry creek bed.

Growing up, we sang a Sunday School song about peace. The message was as right as the grammar was wrong.

I’ve got peace like a river

Peace like a river

I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.

As my grandbabies came along, this song resurged in my heart as a lullaby to rock them to sleep. The soothing tune and message was just right for closing sleepy eyes. But we had to talk through the difference between peace and peas. Explaining what peace means to a two year old turned out to be tricky. And no wonder. Peace is a state of being that is often described as a feeling. Yet we can be in peace when our feelings are a jumble of fear and sadness.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about peace.

Peace tends to match the size of the problem. I’ve experienced the most peace when facing life’s biggest problems.

Loss of loved ones. Unexplainable peace.

A dreaded diagnosis. A calm sense of peace.

Major life changes. More peace than I believed possible.

When the problems are big, peace shows up like a river, flowing through my troubled mind.

But when the problems are tiny inconsequential ones like traffic jams and stubbed toes, then peace is harder to find. More like a trickle in a dry creek bed than a rushing river. When my watch reminds me to breathe during my traffic jam, I know a small problem has just overtaken my mood. Maybe this happens because I’m less likely to turn my traffic jams over to the Lord than the big things that leave me gasping for air. For the big stuff, I ask Him for His peace, because I know how fragile my own peace is.

Peace ebbs and flows with my sense of control. Even for the big stuff, I find that peace comes and goes.  It comes when I turn the problem over to Him. And it starts to leave when I start to take back control. I’m a controller, so this happens a lot.  I pray about a problem that is too big for me to solve. I feel peace about it. Then I start to think about what I can do to try to solve the problem on my own anyway. Did He not understand my timeline? Anxiety rises up and pushes peace aside. Then I remember I can’t solve this one. And I turn it back over to Him. And peace starts flowing again.

His peace is the best kind of peace. This isn’t something I can prove to you. But my experience has proven it to me. The times that I try to muster up peace on my own are trumped by the times I lean on God’s peace. I can do my deep breathing. I can find a spot of still quietness. But the peace I get from my own efforts has disappointing limits. When I seek His peace, I get a deeper kind of peace. It doesn’t make sense. It is beyond understanding.   Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard our hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. [Phil 4:7, NLT]  But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. [Romans 8:6b, NLT]  Notice the circular reference? His peace guards us and letting Him control us leads to peace. Submitting our circumstances to Him sets up a circular flow of peace that doesn’t run out.

I’m praying God’s peace on your life today whether your problems are big or small. And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen. [Romans 15:33, NLT]

Don’t settle for a trickle. Let it wash over you like a rushing river.