We paused during worship service the other day to greet those around us, and an older woman turned to me and said, “May you be blessed with a sense of peace today.” And that set me to thinking about things.
Her blessing was a variation of the traditional worship greeting, “Peace be with you.” Her message was, I thought, more personal than the traditional phrasing and more time specific. She might have concluded her greeting with the word peace, but chose to narrow her wish to the immediate future, giving it detail and urgency.
Offering a sense of spiritual peace is probably the kindest blessing one can make to another. Sure, we could offer a blessing for financial security, good health or happiness. Money is important, just ask someone who has none. Good health is valuable, too, but sooner or later, in one form or another, good health fails us all — no one survives this journey. As for happiness, well that’s elusive and transient, at best.
Peace, the kind the old lady wished upon me at church, is different from happiness. It is not about joy, satisfaction or even fulfillment. Peace provides a sense of calm that reaches to one’s core. It is a conscious acceptance that all will be well if we simply let go of our fear.
Peace is a recognition of the limits to what we can control and manage. A sense of peace is foreign to many of us because our culture teaches us that every aspect of life can be managed, controlled, enhanced or diminished through proper planning and preparation. It simply isn’t true, but it’s pushed on each of us every day.
Peace provides the freedom to acknowledge limits and accept fundamental truths. Realizing the truth about our lives allows us to distinguish what it is we truly can manage and what is beyond our control. In accepting such truth, we can develop our faith and move nearer to God and his holy spirit.
All of that is available to us if we have the courage accept it. Particularly when it’s extended to us through the simple greeting of an old woman standing next to us at church.
That’s something to think about.
— Got something for me to think about? Send an email to kbotterman@gmail.com. Thanks for visiting.
