Walking in Peace

Walking in Peace. Matthew 5.9

I remember the exchange like it was yesterday, though it was probably at least 16 years ago. On my never-ending pursuit of fitness, one early morning I was ru-alking1 the hilly area in which we lived, when I rounded the corner and came upon a strange sight. Twas an old lady, who looked like Granny from Sylvester and Tweety Bird cartoons, holding up in the air a smallish open Bible, arms extended. Bidding her ‘good morning’, I stopped to politely ask what she was doing. ‘Oh honey, don’t you know your strength comes from the Lord? I do this every day, looking toward the hills…’

The last briefing talked about God-given peace, promised by Jesus--Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.2 It is one thing to believe that inner peace is possible, but another to figure out how to walk in that peace, how to cultivate and practice peacefulness within.

Bonhoeffer said, “The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their peace…”3 Obviously, Granny agreed with that too, and literally adhered to the words of David from Psalm 121: I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand …4 look up Psalm 121, and finish reading the last few beautiful verses.

What did Granny know, and what did she do right, and what does it have to do with peace?

~Granny recognized her strength/her inner peace comes from God.

~She was correct in her understanding that

experiencing inner peace requires ordering our thoughts,

rather than being ordered by them.

~Granny started her day in set-apart time with God—just as the psalmist said, Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God. My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to you, and I will look up.5 There is definitely something to a morning discipline of meeting with God.

May I personalize this? Perhaps it will be easier to see the application. For me, the pathway to inner peace begins with surrendering myself to God, and committing each day into his care. When I surrender to him, it anchors me to the Rock—to his strength, his love and guidance.

Daily I take time to pray and meditate on scripture.

Prayer? Regularly folks ask me how to pray, so here’s some brief thoughts on what my morning prayer time looks like~

Usually with pen in hand, writing on my lined notebook, dating the corner,

I praise God for who he is;

confess my sin and self-centeredness and ask for forgiveness;

I ask God for his wisdom, and if he has anything he wants to say to me.

Then I am quiet, and I listen . . . this is where I give the Holy Spirit

some quiet in which to speak and even to teach me

Next I pray for the needs of others,

lift up my own requests, and then

thank God for his good gifts, for my blessings, for loving me,

for his Word, for Heaven, for love . . .

My apologies if my brevity of example seems trite; it truly isn’t. It is a model of a sort of ‘jumping off’ place that connects Jesus and me. [The listening space in the middle is really key in hearing from God, because I seem to live in noise.] Morning prayer is one way I relate to my Lord, and give him room in my heart and life. Without doubt, it is the start on the pathway to my inner peace on a daily basis. Truly.

Christine

1 – In truth, I couldn’t call it running, but it was more than walking! Twas when I lived in Castro Valley, CA

2 – John 14.27

3 – Dietrich Bohoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

4 - Psalm 121.1-5, NKJV

5 – Psalm 5.1-3, NKJV