Peace. Love. Dove.  We were raised on it, sang about it, learned to make the peace sign, pray for peace, demand peace and quiet, ask for just a few moments of peace.

I imagine that most of us define peace as absence of war…………or maybe we believe peace is quiet…………or an absence of conflict.  For sure peace is being left alone beside a small babbling brook, right?  Birds chirping, cool breeze, sunbeams streaking down through the leaves – wonderful, eh?

What if………….peace wasn’t that at all?  Peace as the third fruit of the spirit is a remarkable improvement on what I used to think, which is pretty much all of the above. Now I can claim peace that stays with me in the midst of storms, conflicts and painful losses. It is there when I am having the “time of my life” on a mountain top.  It is there when I am crying, laughing, disagreeing, grieving, giving. It is there when I am cooking for a crowd, cooking a romantic dinner for two or eating alone. How cool, eh?

It is well with my soul.  Yep, what a tremendous relief after so many years of chasing moments of peace to realize that I can have peace all the time, even when things aren’t quiet.  Tapping into peace through my faith has gotten me through a few recent moments of conflict and rejection free of scars.  It is a huge deal for me to have arrived at this point.  I wish it for everyone.

This song is really sweet in its simplicity.    In good times as well as hard times, in the hills and the valleys, I wish you peace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4rRCjrAyCs