Peace on Earth

“Peace on Earth” by Casting Crowns, on Youtube here

The song keeps playing in my head. Casting Crowns recorded it years ago, a rendition of  “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” This song on their Christmas CD is one of my favorites. It speaks to my soul. The lyrics express the doubt we feel at times. “There is no peace on earth, I said. For hate is strong and mocks the song, Of peace on earth good will to men.” They point to the fact that the world is a mess. How do we relate then to the rebuttal, “God is not dead, nor does He sleep. Peace on earth.”?

“Where have I seen peace on earth this year?” I asked myself three days ago. I could picture only snippets, like in a slide show, piecemeal. You would think that is an easy one, but it isn’t. This year has been anything but peaceful for me. But for God. But for God, despair would be my lot.

For three days the song has played nonstop in my thinking. Over and over I have asked God, where have I seen peace on earth? Blank. Just “blank.” Nothing. I’ve seen it around me, but for me personally? Nothing much.

But then. Pictures began to form.

Peace-Endowed Moments

• A friend telling me that she’s finally becoming the mother she always wanted to be, after years of not getting it right;
• Sitting by my mother’s bed, silently weeping, touching her arm and lightly stroking it… knowing this might be my last time with her still living…and it was;
• Praying in the Vina monastery’s chapel on a Sunday morning. God meeting me there, giving me an extra measure of peace in that sweet sanctuary of peace;
• Singing with my two sisters for Mom’s memorial, Grandma’s song, “Dearest Mother” and knowing its words were true of my mother;
• Letting it go. Forgiving the one who wounded me in an area where I feel “less than”…and knowing the healing was in place by the peace that passes all understanding replacing the hurt;
• Seeing smiles on faces, beauty in nature, star-studded skies, eating good food, singing and reading, writing what’s on my heart.
• Talking about the struggle and the joy. Praying for friends and them praying for me; listening and talking about important matters, doing life with these precious ones;
• Holding the grieving person in my arms while they sobbed and we clung together in that understanding of the heart … a connection that needs no words. Five funerals, I’ve attended in recent months, peace was present at all of them.
• Listening to my father recount his earlier years each night at the dinner table; telling me about his boyhood, life on a dairy farm, going to town with his dad, swimming in their reservoir…filled with spring-fed water, attending to the citrus groves, buying his first car at age 14 that cost $10, adventure with his buds, and so forth.

Peace on earth is not so easy to see when our lives and the world are in turmoil. To be honest, I’m drained. My role this year has been that of assisting and supporting my folks. It has required of me to go deeper in the depths of my being to keep myself in a good space. None of it has been easy. But all of it has been rewarding.

Some days I have drawn upon my Heavenly Father like a much needed resource when overwhelm and insufficiency have caused me to feel weak and vulnerable. Then the beauty of God came in and His loving peace descended on me. The peace is found in the little things and in the God of the little things. He is the Giver. God gives and gives and gives. We receive, receive, and receive. Beauty, grace, love, life, being, all come from Him.

I conclude with these five areas where I have found ‘Peace on Earth’ in my daily experience this year.

Where Peace Lives

1. LIFE – Life is full of surprising twists and turns. I experience the best of life those times I embrace life and let it flow as it is going to flow instead of allowing pressure and plans to constrain it. God is the author of life and His Word is life to us. We all partake of this amazing gift of life.
2. LOVE – Love is the key to almost everything. Extending grace out of love is a selfless motivator that speaks life to others. Hard things shut this down, and then I can’t stand it. I reboot the love. Love is a gift from God.
3. RENEWAL – Aw, how we need renewal, refreshing in our spirit. I love watching this happen in others. They start to get it, to experience it, and then, wow! So precious. This is a gift to the soul.
4. PEOPLE – People need people, even introverts (hear, hear!). I may seem self-sufficient, but I need you–my new friends, old friends, on-line friends, and family friends. You are a gift to me. It is my desire to be a gift to you.
5. NATURE – Nature breathes life in me. I love the sunrise, the sunset, walks around the perimeter of my father’s almond orchard, blue skies with fluffy cumulus clouds, mountains to the east, to the west, trees in the valley, the Sacramento River as I drive over it every day, and the flowers and bushes and trees, rock formations and all of nature’s natural topography. Nature is a gift that speaks its life every day.

Blessings to you and peace. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Norma

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