Begin Again
Peace, revisited
I have rewritten this entire post about four times. And after waxing eloquent about how God has been revisiting earlier conversations about peace1 over the last few weeks, and shedding new light on things I did not understand before, I’ve ultimately decided to just shut up and get on with it.
Suffice to say this entire summer has been a teachable moment in the things that bring us peace, versus the things that chase it away — or rather, open the door to the opposite. The concept of ‘peace,’ I have found, is really part of a larger conversation about values and priorities, and living with intention according to God’s design. Are we choosing the things that honor our values and His — which brings us peace, or are we choosing the counterfeit?
For the first time in far too long, the children and I disappeared into the wild land. We had (unfortunately) spent our summer embroiled in things that stole our peace in some form or another, and weekend before last was the culmination of those lessons, plus a firm step back across the threshold and away from chaos. We trawled through the underbrush, found a toad, played in the water, and reconnected with creativity. Nature time is one of our family values. Prayer and time with Jesus is one of our values (and even more so if it coincides with nature time!). Learning, knowledge, and wonder are our values. The arts are our values.
Perhaps the biggest part of this lesson on peace has been that we can’t prioritize what we can’t name.
Sitting by the South Fork sketching as the sun dappled across my hands and journal pages while the boys explored in the thickets and woody areas around me, and getting emotional about it because it had been so long, helped me to realize how important these simple things are to our family, because they aren’t just “what we do,” they are part of the truest expression of who we are.
