Numbers 6:25-26
We all hear the word peace, we know what it is supposed to mean, but when we look around at our world, we ask, "is there real peace to be had?" The answer is yes, we just have to know how to look for it.
This world has become a swirl of busyness. Every waking moment is filled with a thousand things we must get done right now. We cram so much into each waking hour, its no wonder most of us feel tired even after a full nights sleep. Even in our sleep, we dream of all the things we need to do, should be doing, wish we could do. We are consumed with busyness.
God did not create us for busyness. He did not design us to run full out 24 hours a day, or 17 hours, or however many hours we keep ourselves busy with minimal sleep. All the busyness is just a distraction. You might ask how is that when I am accomplishing so many things? Well, you may be right, you are accomplishing lots of things, but what about the people in our lives? What about peace? What about God and your time with Him? Does He even fit into your busy schedule or does He only hold a 60 minute time slot on Sunday when you stop long enough to go to church?
Without time with God, we can not find real peace. Oh sure, the world tries to tell us we will have peace once we have earned enough money, have a big enough house, a newer car, a better job, and the list goes on. But look at what that entails, more busyness, less peace!
I remember when I was younger, we had Sunday sit down dinners with the whole family. I loved us all being together, eating on grandma's good china, drinking from her beautifully etched goblets. I felt like royalty. Like I was a princess in a beautiful castle. Grandma's house wasn't big, but it was big on love. There weren't servants to serve our meals, but it was still amazing. Oh and holidays, that's when grandma went all out.
Now, grandma is gone, the beautiful china is gone, the goblets are gone, and so are Sunday dinners. No one has time to sit down as a family and have Sunday dinner. We have to many things we need to get done before we start the week again. We are spread to the four corners of the state. Even on Sunday, they day God designated as a day of rest, we cram as much as we can into it so we are ready for the next work and school week. We just don't have enough time.
You see, those Sunday dinners, that's where I found peace, love, security, and hope. The peace of knowing you were where you belonged, where you were loved, and you could love. Security of knowing those around that table always looked out for you and that each Sunday, we would all come back around that table. Hope that some day, I would have a table like that, that my children and grandchildren could gather around that table and feel all the wonderful things that I did being at my grandma's table.
But here I sit, 2017, and so busy that Sunday dinner is a distant memory. I'm not saying that we don't get together at times, we do, but it isn't a tradition. We don't feel like it is so important that it is not something to miss. We, our children and grandchildren as well as our selves, are so busy with life...we don't have the time to get together like that. We don't have enough peace because like I said, we are so busy with life and running all the time. Oh how I wish we could go back to simpler times, times where kids still played outside until called in for dinner, running through the sprinkler, playing go fish and slap jack. A time when Sunday dinner was not something you cared to miss!
Now I am not saying all of this so that we get discouraged and feel hopeless where peace is concerned. What I am saying is that God wants us all to have peace. That peace is different for each and every one of us. For some its camping and fishing, for others its playing basketball or tennis and still for others its singing or painting. You see, peace comes to each of us in different ways. We just need to give God the opportunity to, the time, to bring that peace into our lives. We need to stop thinking that we must fill every waking moment with stuff.
So, I know what you must be thinking. She has no clue what my life is like, all the things I need to get done each day. Work, school, kids, laundry, dishes, husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend, all these things that need my attention and they need it now! I want you to think about this though, how many funerals or memorial services have you been to or seen, where someone got up and said, "WOW, so and so was such a busy person all their life." "What an amazing legacy they are leaving behind to their children, spouse, friends"...
Yes we can look at some lives and say look at all they accomplished, but can we also say look at how much peace they had? I'm not saying do nothing, stay at home, don't ever do things that need doing. I'm saying don't let that be all you do with your life. Don't fill it so full of doing, that you get to the end having never known true peace.
So ask yourself, what do you want said of you? That you were to busy to participate in your own life? Or that you had peace about you, you took the time to really enjoy life, not busyness? The choice is your. Peace or Chaos. You can only find real peace when you rest in the arms of God, allow Him to carry your burdens. Trust that He is always looking out for your best interest. Lean on God and find PEACE!
