Peace

Peace is rocking my three year old in the green glider in her room.  She is heavy against me -- the full weight of her sinking into my body.  She rests her head on my chest, her arms and legs wrapped around me.

Her eyes are closed.  Her heartbeat quick and small against my own.


We breathe deeply.


inhale

          exhale

                   ...

                       This is peace.



Peace is turning my head and seeing the one who knows me deeply and Loves me for who I am.  It is catching his gaze and sharing a smile over the laughter of my little ones.

I am fully me.  And I am fully Loved.

I catch my breath.

inhale

          exhale

                   …

                      This is peace.



Peace is being curled up on the brown chair, wrapped in my thick green knit blanket.  I feel the tightness on my cheeks where my tears have dried.  I hear words of peace and comfort on the phone after I have endured an intense loneliness -- missing my little ones.

I am calmed.  I am whole.

I sigh deeply.

inhale

        exhale

                  …

                     This is peace.



We do not just fall into peace.


Peace gently covers us

             blending our sorrows, our struggles, our pain, our tears


                                   into Beauty.


It happens when we catch our breath

                      and realize

             that we are fully Loved

                                           for exactly who we are.


We feel the deepest peace with those who cover us with the deepest Love

             with those we Love the deepest.



We feel the deepest peace

                                 after the toughest storms.



Come Lord Jesus.

      inhale

            exhale

                    …

                        Amen.

Working Hands

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks…"  --Isaiah 2:4

Eugene Salandra 2012

I have never used a plow.

It looks like hard work.

Really hard work.

The kind of work that makes hands calloused and blistered and tough -- hands that are rough, dry and thick.

Working hands.


I don't have a pair of working hands.  But there is someone I Love who has a pair of working hands.  They are thick and strong -- tough yet tender.  They are the result of years upon years of plain ol' hard work.  They are hands that can craft beauty.  Hands that can meld steel.  Hands that can till soil to make room for life.

My hands have seen piano keys and dishwater… they mend wounds with band-aids and soothe tear stained faces with a touch.

But they are weak.  They get tired when I try to do anything too strenuous.  From pulling weeds to knitting to twisting the top off a pickle jar.

They just haven't been worked the way working hands have worked.



I don't think beating swords into plowshares is just about eliminating tools of destruction.


I think it's about work.

I think it's about working hands.


On the surface, peace sounds so…. peaceful… restful … easy.



But you know what?

Peace takes work.

Hard, hard work.



Do you know what's easy?

Chaos.
                    Destruction.


Things just fall into chaos.  Bathrooms and living rooms and beds fall into chaos without much work.  An old barn collapses in on itself without much work.  Things break down, wear out, and fall into disarray without very much work at all.



What takes work?

Cleaning that bathroom and living room.  Making the beds.  Painting and repairing the barn.  Keeping things renewed and strong and in order.


Peace.

               Peace takes work.


It takes work:

Creating a peaceful home.  Mending relationships -- working on relationships.  Forgiveness.  Daily keeping order in a world that so easily slips into chaos.


"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths."  --Isaiah 2:3


Come.

Let us put on our workbooks and coveralls.  Let us push up our sleeves, grab our plow, and get to work.


Let us work.

For peace.


Peace in our homes.  Peace in our families.  Peace in our minds.  Peace in our souls.  Peace in our hearts.



Come, Lord Jesus.

Here we are…

                hands ready…

                                 to work.

Anastasis

"We may not understand what the future will be, but we trust that it is new life, new creation, and not a dressed up rehashing of the past."  --Doug Brougher

Fresco from Kariye Camii, Anastasis - showing Christ and the resurrection of Adam and Eve, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, Tenn. Original Source.

We trust that the future is:

          New Life

                         New Creation

                                      Not a dressed up rehashing of the past...


Like a phoenix emerging from the flames...


"a world in which life will rise out of the ashes of crushed hopes and dreams" -- Richard Swanson


I believe in the swift, strong pull of Jesus' hands -- 

                 pulling us out of our tombs
                                                 our captivity
                                                           our darkness

       Into light
                  into hope
                            into wholeness
                                              and healing.


Keep me, Lord, as the apple of your eye.

Help me to stand strong and sure in you.

Thank you for yanking me from my grave.  Now and in the many deaths to come.


Hold me, Jesus.

I am yours.