A storm's a brew'n!

Matthew 8:23-27

          I have an expression that I use, it's this, panic is not your friend. I say it often because there are things that creep up in life that seem to be obstacles. Things that are surprising and seem to want immediate attention. To rush in and act might prove too hasty and premature. Quite often it is better to wait. Sometimes the best action is no action at all.

          Ahhh to have the peace of the Lord within you to not panic, to not be restless and see so many things are simply out of our hands. I can visualize Jesus in the boat sleeping as the winds whipped and the sea tossed the boat. (Was it a 3 hour tour??) Jesus was calm and sleeping, everyone else was frantic. 

          How do we find the peace, the inner peace when the storms are brewing all around us? How can we  get in touch with the peace that our Lord gives? It is not as simple as saying, I have inner peace, I have inner peace, I have inner peace. It comes from being in contact with something inside yourself that is more fundamental and more grounding than anything else this world can offer. Some things that are 'of this world' can hint at inner peace or give you a false sense of inner peace, money lets say.  If we can ask ourselves, what is at the core of happiness? What is the most important thing not just in lives but in the entirety of life?  If we can calm ourselves just once, it will be easier each successive time to reach that place of peace whenever we need to go there. Eventually I think we will realize a state where we are are always at peace. We all know people like this. It isn't that they are stoned and unfazed, or not caring and unfazed. These are people that have inner peace all the time. Think the Dalai Lama. 

    

         What you need to get to this place is time alone, reflecting on what is important. Time alone to think, pray and appreciate what you have. What is most important? My husband I think would profess to not being a terribly spiritual person and yet he knows what is most important and that centers him, keeps him focused and  is less rattled for having that knowledge and that peace of surety.

          You can have this gift too, it awaits you. The peace only God can offer us.

Jesus Stills the Storm

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’