Each Sunday in the summer, this is the refrain to our Psalm. The lifelong search for inner peace in Christ challenges us to learn more about ourselves and our faith as the Holy Spirit encourages us to let go and trust. Peace requires a journey that begins with God.
I have been enjoying the many, varied blessings in the book gifted to me at the synod assembly. The book is titled The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. Here’s a blessing about peace. It’s called, “For a Peaceful Day or Night”.
Oh peace, you are the mountain we glimpse from afar,
the height and depth of our needs.
We chart our way to you by starlight
through paths overgrown,
with wrongs we ourselves have seeded,
then left to grow unchecked.
It’s a long way we travel, but a good one,
making things right as ever we can.
Light the way, God.
Bring us to the place of rest.
Rest from the world outside,
and the one inside.
Rest from the prickling fears
and obsessive thoughts:
What if this never changes?
What if this goes on forever?
What if I try and I fail?
What if I don’t and never know?
Bring us peace, God,
enough for this moment.
Enough to quiet the questions with no answers.
And, while you’re at it,
pencil us in for tomorrow, too.
In these beautiful summer days, may you have time to sit back and breathe for a moment, and be at peace knowing that Christ is with you through it all. Amen.