Choosing Peace

Welcome back! I'm not totally sure the Dalai Lama said this, but it's a great quote, and very applicable to the modern momma...

If you are fortunate enough to rise a few minutes before your little ones, you may know what this inner peace feels like. If you are fortunate enough to keep your eyes open for awhile longer after they fall asleep, you may know what this inner peace feels like. Or, if your toddler who never stops moving is tired enough to sweetly fall asleep in your arms, you may know what this inner peace feels like. Some call it the "happy place." Whatever you call it, I think it is so important for us as mommies to:

• Identify what it feels like
• Ask God to bring it to us, all the time!
• Choose to stay in it as long as possible

Isn't it funny how our peace can disappear in a second? A friend gives you bad news. Your husband makes an off-handed remark that gets to your core. Or, my favorite this week, your toddler gets the stomach flu and throws up all over you...in the middle of the night. Yep, there it goes! My peace...But! It doesn't have to. I want to make a vow to stay peaceful as much as possible. Our God-given peace does not depend on the behavior and actions of others, or on the circumstances around us. I tend to view peace vs. circumstances as a cause and effect relationship. But, God has clearly shown me lately that this is not the case!

As mommies, I believe that one of our primary responibilites of the home is to foster an atmosphere of peace. How can we do that for our families if we can't do it for ourselves? I dream of Caleb growing up in a home that regardless of what hard things his daddy and I may be dealing with, he will remember a home of peace. Peace is defined as:

• a state of tranquillity or quiet
• freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions

Isn't that second definition fantastic?! How many times do we lose our peace because of our own behavior or, more specifically, our own thoughts? This was never God's intention. If we know Him, and we know His Son, Jesus Christ, then we have the ability to feel His supernatural peace washing over us at all times...regardless of our circumstances. When my little man was throwing up for the umpteenth time this week, I sat back and held him and thought about the intricacy that went in to our heavenly Father's creation of the human body. Okay, maybe I was delirious from carpet cleaner, but I really was put at peace in the fact that his little body was behaving just as God designed it. Something foreign was attacking his cells, and his body was getting rid of the culprit. I knew he wouldn't throw up forever, I knew that I was the only person who could comfort him in the moment, and I knew that God would heal our son. I had peace.

That might have been a bizarre example of peace right now, but it's where my head is :-) I had a hard conversation with a friend today, we've run into a snag with our house contract, and I'm trying to prepare us to go out of town again. Through all of that, God reminded me of this verse...

 "You will keep in perfect peace her whose mind is steadfast, because she trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

Over the past year, I have been on a major journey of learning to trust God in what He is doing. The more I trust Him, the more peace I feel in the big things, and the small things. Mommies, I encourage you to identify how it feels when you are in "perfect peace." Ask Him to allow you to feel that more often. He doesn't desire us to feel like this:

I know that we have all that, and more, to do! But, we don't have to look like that :-) Let's learn how to do this job peacefully. The responsibilities aren't going away...but He may just desire that we practice a peaceful spirit while completing our tasks. Just some thoughts!