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How can we find peace
When a young, married person with a house full of children is told they are not a machine for making and spending money, they must wonder what planet the speaker has been living on for the past thousand years or so.
It is nice to expound philosophically about such matters, but the person with bills to pay needs practical applications--that's all they can handle. So, the question becomes, "How do I realize the true peace which is my right as the son/daughter of the most high God?"
Let's dwell for a moment on a typical American family of five where mom and dad both hold down full time jobs, volunteer in church, school or civic activities and still make special time for each child. We have now used up most of their waking hours and still have not allotted any special time for them to be with God even though we understand he is the source of true peace. Where do we find the time?
For those who consider themselves morning persons, getting up a few minutes earlier or foregoing the early morning news will make some time when one is fresh and when time spent meditating will help bring peacefulness into the spirit before the clamor of the day commences. Others would do better to break their night's sleep into two portions with meditation in the middle of the night when all is peacefully quiet. For me, the answer was giving up TV. I found I had extra time in the morning and in the evening after I gave my TV away.
Moving through the day, looking for moments when the mind was free enough to dwell on upsets, hurts, gossip, world issues, and adjusting oneself to use those moments looking about for the beauty of God's creation or the little clues to God's plan not only gives one a more positive perspective, it results in life being more adventuresome.
"One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple." --Psalm 27:4, (NIV)
Jane Mullikin
"How can we find peace, true peace, if we forget that we are not machines for making and spending money, but spiritual beings, sons and daughters of the most high God?" --Thomas Merton. The Monastic Journey.
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