27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
I don’t know about you, but I feel something in the air! When we drove to bring my Mom her Sunday dinner, there were many more cars on the road than I had been seeing. When we went to a fabric store I was pleasantly surprised to find many cars in the lot, and many people in the store, even though they were out of many items. When I talked to my neighbor the other day he was excited to be planting his raised garden soon. My neighbor on the other side said his business was picking up (his business is by appointment only). I believe what I am feeling optimism! Yes, I know it is. We are seeing the light at the end of this long tunnel getting brighter. We have been doing all the restrictive things we have been asked to do. We have endured the hardship of distancing from family. We have watched every Hallmark movie we ever want to see, read every book we never had time to, tried new recipes, and even did catching up on extra cleaning! We are ready! Well, almost.
Look at that group of runners in the photo. They are also ready. Training, exercising, practicing has been done. One last thing they need, just like we do…mental preparedness! They need to make up their mind to finish this run, no matter what happens along the way. We need that focus as well!
In my daily time with the Lord, I have made some improvements. Of course I have spent more time reading and praying, since I have the time. I am also focusing my prayers. While our prayers are never wasted, still just like the focused runner, a focused prayer has a much better chance of being effectual.
Let’s just focus on the verse above. The Lord is telling us He is leaving peace with us. Since that is one of the gifts He gives, (Galatians 5:22) and when He gives His gifts He does not take them back, so, I am pretty certain that we can conclude that we ‘have’ peace! He even says, ‘my peace is not like the world’s peace’. We know we can feel peaceful when things are going well, bills are paid, we have a job and our health. But, that is the peace the world gives. That peace can disappear quickly when we are faced with a pandemic. No, God’s peace goes far beyond the world’s peace. It is the ‘peace that passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:7) It is the peace you can believe in when we are faced with a crisis; cancer, job loss, death of a loved one, uncertain economy. It is the peace that says, “I’ve got the whole world in my hands, and I’m not going to drop it!” Ahhhhhh…. Just let that peace sink in for a minute.
So really, when we have Jesus in our hearts, He walks with us daily. We have the assurance that if we continue to live here on earth, or if He takes us home to Heaven, we are in His care. Now that’s peace!
So, here’s my question for you today; Do you have that peace? Since it’s a gift for us all, just ask for it!
I would really enjoy hearing from you!
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