Where is your peaceful place?
Is it your room breathing deep with no one else around? On the beach, eyes closed, warming in the sun, listening to the waves crash? In a snow covered mountain cabin and listening to the fire crackle?
What brings you peace?
Someone brushing your hair? Going running? Talking with a friend? Having a day to yourself with no responsibilities?
The gut reaction might be to have a “right answer” and say, “Jesus is my peaceful place! Jesus brings peace!” Whereas, He is always the answer, these other answers aren’t wrong. The Lord has created you with certain desires of your heart. To one person, listening to the waves or the fire crackle may be a way to reconnect with the Creator that made them. To another, they may need to work something with their hands like in baking, building, or serving. Still another may need to go, move, and change their surroundings to achieve peace. Whichever you are, the Lord wants that for you.
This week in Advent we light the second candle and ask for peace. The Lord loves you and wants to bring you peace within this world of chaos. He has so much in store for you and wants nothing more for you to give Him the opportunity to prove His love for you.
“Have no anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ.” - Philippians 4:6-7
This week, try to find your peaceful place or what brings you peace so that you may grow closer to the Lord as He is drawing near to you. Here are some ideas if you’re feeling stumped:
Go on a walk and don’t put in headphones. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Look at the leaves on the ground, try and spot birds or squirrels, and wave to those you pass. Talk to God in the silence of your walk. See where He guides your path, who He may put there, and what He has to say to you.
Turn off all electronic device for one hour each day this week.
Visit an adoration chapel. Either your regular spot or a new chapel and ask the Lord where He wants to bring peace into your life.
Create something to gift to someone this Advent. If you have a particular skill, use it to glorify God and pray for the recipient of the God. Try and bring your gift to a nursing home, shelter, or other places where there is a poverty of peace.
Memorize the Beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matt 5:9) and reflect on this: What is the Lord calling me to do to bring more peace into my life?
Listen to the song below, Breath of Heaven by Amy Grant. Close your eyes and picture what it was like to be in Mary’s place. Men, you can do this too and picture being beside Mary as Joseph, her protector.