REFLECTIONS

Peace and Quiet

Can there be one without the other? I wonder. And where does stillness fit in the picture? Quiet is the absence of sound; but what is peace? The absence of war? It seems to me we are in search of something more than that.

When peace like a river attendeth my way…the hymn begins to its longing melody. Usually, we relate to the image. But I have seen angry rivers too rushing fiercely toward destruction. There is nothing peaceful about them while they are doing it either. So, peace isn’t always like a river, though peace is oftentimes found there.

Quiet doesn’t always carry peace in its genes either. Quiet before the storm feels unsettling, not comforting. Peace is restful. To say goodbye to a loved one, we say, “Rest in peace.” Can one rest, truly rest, without the presence of peace?

Funny isn’t it, that when we come near peace and quiet, we do our best to disrupt it. It’s not comfortable, at least not at first. But something in the discomfort doesn’t wait for peace to settle in. And we revert to the duties of the day still longing for our quick glimpse of the prize to return for a longer stay.

I think when we long for peace in our lives, we are really searching for the peace of God. It is a peace beyond our understanding here in this world. But one day we’ll find it.

I think one day a storm of life may carry us through a dark narrow channel barely large enough for our head and shoulders to pass. Breath will be hard to find but the flicker of a light in the distance will signal hope that will push us on. Then as the light beckons us toward it and the suffocating passage nears its end, the struggle through the narrow canal may grow harder still…

Until we are there, basking in Light as never seen before, received by welcoming hands—loving, tender and safe—

And before us flows the river of the water of life…[1]

“You are the light of the world,”

Richard +www.reflectingthesavior.org

[1] Revelation 22:1

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