A Year of Peace
Thanksgiving 2020
When we’re broadsided by an unprecedented, impossible to anticipate global crisis, our first and very human instinct is to panic. When the crisis doesn’t resolve quickly and stress and fear are prolonged and unrelenting, our brains, bodies and spirits suffer deeply. Children take on, absorb, process and carry our burdens in such specific and compassionate ways. When the adult world is obviously unpredictable and parents are struggling to navigate and provide stability and rhythm, their kid world is rocked. Our job in this hour is to choose to hitch our wagons to and live from an unshakeable Source that is unchanging, uncreated, supernatural, omniscient, constant unsleeping focused Power, action, promises and love. I want to stand on the historical precedents of ancestors who weathered upheaval or trauma with grit, determination, positivity, resolution, outrageous Faith and zeal for survival and a will to overcome. I want to apprehend and model the forward momentum and trust of Jesus as He, knowing very specifically what He was about to allow to happen to Him, WENT FORTH. Never looking backwards with longing, and focused on the goal of redemption and restoration. That’s the mindset I choose every single day. I want the Mind of Christ in these times. In my weakness, there is strength. I choose always to ask for endurance, energy and strength for the joy set before me day in and day out, no matter what things look like. We have not because we ask not.
The Peace that Jesus instructs his buddies about in John chapter fourteen is not a tenuous Peace. It’s not a Peace that is tangible only during good times. This is a Peace that He had to physically leave this planet in order to provide, so as not to be bound by human time and distance. This is a promise and a birthright. He needed to go, to allow Himself to be brutalized beyond comprehension and put to death in a humiliating and agonizing way, so that we could conquer difficult, painful and challenging times as a result of accessing His beautiful Spirit of Peace, Truth, Wisdom and Comfort.
Feeling fearful, confused and chaotic seems always to be the human fallback condition. It’s an easy habit to maintain, particularly now, and takes a concerted effort to break free of. The constant mantra of ‘do not fear’ that is obvious throughout Scripture isn’t a jerky ‘shape up, guys’, but a reminder that all we need to access that indomitable spirit, the clear and fearless vision, the steadfastness, Peace and endurance to walk into, through and out of any and every potentially stressful and painful time with perspective and triumph exists inside of us. If the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ exists in me, I can claim it in a fresh way every day, I can ask for MORE, I can focus on beauty, empathy and compassion, I can ask for the strength, foresight and problem solving of Jesus and desire renovation and change in my interior and exterior ecosystem. I give permission daily for inner healing and a paradigm shift. I ask daily for a fresh, new encounter from God for my kids and my partner. I ask for the favour that He pours out to be so obvious to them and that they’d see/feel/smell/touch/hear/and perceive Him in brand new ways. Enrobe them in Peace, saturate them with identity and the reality of the plans, purposes and destiny that exist for them specifically. I ask daily for worldwide healing, rescue and restoration. He’s the God of Tall Orders. Level your requests up!
Take Heart, family and Shift your gaze. What if we were to take this time to extend Grace to ourselves and to our families during this chapter? What if we chose to be free of outside expectation and System panic. Embracing stillness, allowing kids to process and move individually through boredom and free, unstructured time. Giving young brains time for recovery and Peace is crucial for their development. What a perfect opportunity to extend this to them without guilt in this weird time. Autonomy, agency and independence are the goals, so let’s begin. Let’s begin with trust in the process, the kids and the Author of their lives and Lover of their souls. I want kids with healthy minds, bodies and souls and my goal is to steward them in a kind and authentic way through this potentially derailing and scary time. Making a concerted effort to carve out time in order to increase your Peace by sitting with Him and being filled and realigned is the wisest thing one can begin with. Model it. Take courage. Receive the Peace that belongs to you. Sit with the One who holds all outcomes in the palm of His hand, and learn to trust again and again. I speak PEACE, heavenly determination, mindsets and stamina over all of you in Jesus’ Name.
