"Lord, Make Me Peace..."

I was driving home from work after a long day of dealing with corporate visitors, straightening clothes, and absolute boredom! I was exhausted and my mind was heavy with the many aspects of life that are difficult, troubling, and heavy on my heart. Thought after thought rolled through my mind and then I finally rested on the relieving reality that in merely a week I will be with my friends spending a week in Savannah, GA! I was filled with excitement over the soon coming vacation!

As I was thinking about the trip, my thoughts turned to my friends' newly born son, Edmund and I thought of the crying baby and, for some reason, I welcomed the idea of being kept awake because of a little crying baby. Weird right?! As I daydreamed of this possible event, I imagined that I was able to calm the weeping lad and that was the point of contact for the Spirit to plant a renewed desire in my heart! Peace: to have peace, to give peace, and to be made into peace!

My mind was immediately filled with the words of St. Francis and longed to be a wellspring of peace.

The world isn't full of peace these days. we are surrounded with discussions of war and revolt. Chaos fills our work spaces, family encounters, and our troubled psyches. Something that we lack, and severely need, is peace. In Christ, I should be striving to be an instrument of peace in the world. We are called to be peacemakers; centers of calm in the storms of life. It is sad that, even though we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we are not often very peace-giving or peace-making.

I recognize the horrible truth that I myself am often a bringer of chaos; I often let my mind fall into chaos in the midst of undesirable situations rather than yielding myself to the Spirit's work in me. Instead of disciplining my mind I let my heart grow impatient and even cold towards others, rather than stepping in with the strength and wisdom of God to put an end to the wars raging around me. This is not a holy way to live and is not honoring to God.

Sin dwells within our hearts. It is the cancer of our souls; the broken aspect of our humanity. It is my sin that separates me from God and it is my tainted human nature that stirs my heart to malice, selfishness, and unholistic living and thinking. I am on this journey of redemption and healing, but I have a long way to go before I reach before I get to where God really wants me to be. He is walking with me through this and as He and I engage in this divine romance I am being made more and more like Him. That is what I experienced today in my car. A moment of with God in which He spoke softly to me and told me that He wanted me to be something different; revealing a part of me that has all but evaded my sight. In the midst of this revelation all I could say was, "Lord, make me peace..."

In this Lenten season, let us seek to be men and women of peace. Let us become instruments of peace for the world, and let's start where it often the most difficult-right in our own homes and relationships.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Stay FRESH!

Something that came to my mind the other day was the topic of "revelation". Now, I'm not referring to the book of Revelations found at the end of the New Testament, but I do plan on referring to that in just a moment. No, what I am referring to is the often believed goal for one reading scripture. Growing up I constantly heard that one needed a "fresh revelation" from God to be able to grow or operate in the kingdom of God.

I'm not speaking against one receiving a revelation from God. I simply believe that it doesn't happen as often as people would like to think it does. I also believe that, more often than not, people are too fixated on receiving a "revelation" that they conjure one up or take the first random thought that pops into their head as a revelation without checking themselves or testing it first.

Actually I think that Christians as a whole have a tendency to fixate on some singular aspect of Christianity or spirituality and, therefore, miss out on other important parts of their faith structure. Too many suffer because of the single mindedness of people. If you are going to concentrate on one thing and one thing only, then let it be upon the worship and adoration of God, then perhaps through that you might fulfill all else. Our jobs as Christians is not to "receive revelation", memorize the Bible, or turn our small community Church into a mega church. No we are supposed to love God with our hearts, minds, physical strength, and everything that is within us, and then love others. But I digress.

So why, if one receives a true revelation from God, is it that they are seeking another one the very next moment? Why not take then one you just received and apply it to your life first?! Do the Holy Spirit's revelations have such a short life span that one must try and get a new one every week or every day??? I think that we are treating the Holy Spirit's moving and speaking into our lives too flippantly and not with the gratitude and respect that is deserved. We are too caught up in being awed and getting what we want and as much as we want to truly appreciate what He does in fact give us.

Believe me when I say that I am just as guilty of this as anyone. Many who read this will probably not understand, and many more will be offended by what I say. I pray that God gives me and you understanding in this matter so that we can live fully to His glory and honor what the Holy Spirit does in each of our lives.

Peace be with you all,

Stephen