Peace for This Moment

As Christmas draws closer, we may have certain pictures of what peace will look like in this season. Whether it’s family gathered around a home-cooked meal, friends exchanging lovingly purchased or homemade presents, or baking cookies with children who never tire of decorating and always keep the frosting on the cookies and not on their clothes, it’s a season that breeds big expectations, even if we try to temper them.

Outside of Christmas scenes, there are other images that come to mind when I think of peace. Sitting by a lake, watching powerful waves roll in and listening to their rustling, bustling whir as they race towards shore  puts me immediately in a more peaceful frame of mind. Others may find peace in holding a sleeping child after another long day of corralling and chasing, or standing atop a mountain, looking out at the rolling scenery after an arduous but rewarding climb. 

Yet while these things may help us experience a feeling of peace, they’re also very fleeting. So how are we to think about peace, especially at this time of year, but every other day of our lives as well?

We can begin by recognizing that true peace is more than a feeling brought on by a particular setting or experience. When the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, they declared,

 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14 NIV)

At that moment, the shepherds were likely feeling more fearful than peaceful. The angels weren’t telling them to just appreciate the starry night sky and take a deep breath, though. They were delivering a powerful message about the nature of peace. It’s a God-given gift, not a human-created feeling.

Even knowing this, it’s tempting to hope for powerful feelings of peace to wash over us in our darkest moments. I’ve heard many stories of Christians saying they had never felt God’s peace more tangibly than when they were in some of the saddest, most desperate times of their lives. As much as I love those stories and am thankful for the way God shows up in the lives of others, I also find myself wishing I had similar experiences to share. During the most fear-filled, lonely moments I can think of, I’ve never yet had a big moment where I felt God deliver his miraculous peace to me.

However, when I begin down this line of thinking, I find comfort in the story of the Israelites. As they wandered in the desert, they wanted God to show up for them in big and specific ways, particularly in the form of food. Instead, God took the subtle route, sending them manna each night. Maybe night-owl Israelites who stayed up late saw the manna falling to the ground, or maybe growing up from the earth, but whether anyone ever saw it arriving or not, a blanket of food in the morning lost its impressiveness to them as it kept showing up day after day, year after year. 

But that was how God designed it to work—hey only got the manna they needed for each day, and it kept showing up reliably as long as they needed it.

I’ll never understand why God works the way He does. Why He answers certain prayers yes and says no to others, why some people have powerful experiences of His peace and some mostly receive manna-like daily portions of it. Always, though, we can turn to His character, the God of love revealed to us in many ways throughout the Bible, and magnificently in the birth of a baby. 

When he was foretelling of Jesus’ coming, the prophet Isaiah even includes “peace” as part of Jesus’ very name:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6 NIV)

Because of Jesus, we don’t have to be at a lake, or on a mountaintop, or sitting in a cozy chair with our favorite candle burning, to find peace. Because God is always with us, no matter where we are, how we’re feeling, or the difficulties we’re facing, His peace is available to us. We may not receive all the peace we need for a lifetime, but He will give us the peace we need for each moment. 

May God’s provision of peace for you right now be enough for this moment.

—Written by Brianna DeWitt. Used by permission from the author.