Be Peace and Love!
Don’t wait a single minute for another man or woman or even helpless child, for Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit, or for some miracle, BE THE MIRACLE YOURSELF! Be at peace, be loving! Now! Don’t wait another minute. Be peace, be love now.
There is no time to waste, no one else to depend on, although the whole Trinity will support all your efforts to be peace and love. This minute right now needs you. These people around you need you. You need yourself to be at peace, to be loving God, yourself, and others.
This is the message of “Thy Kingdom Come!” that we affirm every time we say the Lord’s Prayer. Since we don’t know when or how there will be a second coming or what that even means, the task falls to us followers of Jesus in the meantime.
Say you were able to find your way to peace about your life and who you are and who God is to you, what difference would you notice? First of all, you could relax about so many things—there would be no need for anxiety or fear; you are resting in God’s arms. And then you’ll notice that people respond to you differently, they pick up the “peace bug” from you. You will be able to pay more attention to what you’re doing right now, instead of anxiety confusing your thoughts with future fears or past disturbances. Others would want to know how you had achieved that peace.
And then, if you’re also able to love—God, self and others—you’ll notice that you feel easier about everything, less threatened, more with a sense of belonging wherever you go. You would feel guided to do those things that are in your own best interests and of those around you, you would be more expressive of who you really are, more in line with your created purpose. And with this guidance, there is an even greater relaxation into the arms of the One who would lead you. Now there is only you and God and what is before you to do and to be. Life becomes for you a minute by minute response in a relaxed way to whatever is before you. And the guidance is there and your needs are met.
No defensiveness, no justifications, no attacking others. This is who we are in the kingdom. Surely. Surely is the operative word here as in the 23rd Psalm: “Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall live in the house of the Lord forever.” The kingdom is filled with the certainty of God’s presence and mercy. The kingdom is filled with love overflowing. And we are welcome there, surely.
Questions to ponder over the week: Who are you waiting for to bring you peace and love? What difference will it make in your life for you to give up anxiety and fear? And where do you experience “Surely?” In belonging? In your work? In your relationship to God?