Life at the intersection of Grace and Growth.
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You want peace. I want peace. We need to quiet those shrieking monkeys we talked about last episode. But how do we do it? Will God give us peace if we ask? What if the obstacle to peace isn’t outside of us, or even in better prayers or spiritual practices. What if the obstacle is inside our own hearts and minds?
The world is feeling dark these days. Polarized, increasingly hostile attitudes prevail. Really scary things are happening. ISIS. Gun violence. Political discord. In times of anxiety and fear, our faith can get murky.
In John’s gospel, Jesus makes an unexpected promise. He says, “In this world you will have trouble.” But then, he turns this on it’s head. “I have told you this so that you can be at peace.” How on earth does Jesus telling us about hard times lead to peace?
If you’d prefer to read this presentation, you may below the fold.
We were only the second family to set-up at the camp ground for our Memorial Day weekend camping trip. We arrived on Wednesday. For two-and-a-half glorious days it was just us and the trees and the little stream. Well, and the elderly camp hosts, and a distant neighbor.
Then around lunchtime on Friday everything changed.
A parade of RVs and 5th Wheels and and giant pick-up trucks overflowing with bicycles rolled in. One by one the sites around us exploded to life. That’s when the tiny size of the sites became apparent. That’s also when we learned that our site was smack-dab in the middle of a Three-RV- Seven-Bicyle-Crowd-of-Pre-Teens family reunion. One family was on our left. The grandparents were on our right. And we were caught in the swirling stream of kids running back and forth.
Christina and I are introverts. We camp for the quiet, for peace. Our kids didn’t mind the crowding neighbors; Just more people to play with. But we had almost 3 more days ahead of us in what felt like a bustling suburb. Not our favorite!
You’ve been there. Sometimes you’re stuck in circumstances that aren’t what you hoped for. You’ve done what you can, but despite your grand intentions, some things are outside of your control. There you are. How are you going to live in this moment?
I just got off the phone with a man struggling deeply in an unhappy marriage. He feels cut out and unappreciated. His heart is aching.
Earlier I had a conversation with a family sinking in enormous debt. They couldn’t make ends meet last month. They are afraid.
A friend has wrestled with addiction for more than ten years. He’s gotten clean countless times. Every time his intentions are good, but then something painful happens, and he’s right back at it.
These friends of mine all have two things in common. First, they’re desperate for peace. Second, they think that changing their circumstances will bring it to them.
The trouble is that it won’t.
Stress, pressure, constantly feeling overwhelmed. As our lives have filled up with expectations and commitment, this seems to be our natural state.
At any moment there is some obligation that we are not living up to, and we feel it acutely.
We’re holding an image of what we want our lives to look like. These images started as ideals to live up to, but they’ve gone all Jekyll and Hyde on us. Now they buzz and clatter continuously in our consciousness, a pestering swarm of swirling obligations.
So, can you relieve this stress? Some people just let go of their standards or dreams entirely. Life is what it is and they give up the hope of it ever being different.
But for you and me this path is compromise and defeat. There are reasons why our dreams matter, and we won’t let them go. So then are we left with no option but to always feel under pressure and insufficient to the task?
