What if your one guide to life was 'Search for Peace, and work to maintain it.'

The unexpected source of life guidance that is found everywhere.

Is peace a feeling that comes when circumstances are right, or is peace a choice and a practice?

Today I came across this quote—Search for peace and work to maintain it.— from none other than the bible itself.

Search…for peace? From the bible… OK, so I should be doing that. I thought that was pretty amazing that God has asked us to search for peace, knowing peace is different things to different people.

Why is this a high priority? And, what does that really mean? Is it as simple as it sounds?

Searching for something such as peace isn’t so much about searching for it, rather it is about searching for what disrupts it—whether it’s external chaos or internal restlessness. When we discover what disrupts it, to continue along, we reduce those disruptions.

Maintaining peace would entail an effort to nurture and protect our peace. This could be by setting boundaries cultivating stillness, and choosing kindness in moments of tension. The searching shifts to an ongoing practice, not a one-time achievement.

• Setting boundaries in relationships to protect inner peace.

• Taking time for quiet reflection to refocus.

• Choosing forgiveness or grace in conflict.

• Simplifying commitments to avoid overwhelm.

Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

Psalm 34:14 NLT

But it doesn’t end there. Peace isn’t just the absence of noise or conflict—it’s the presence of something deeper too: wholeness, trust, and calm amidst the storms. This leads us back to our inner strength.

It dawned on me, that peace comes back to trusting in myself. Knowing ‘I’ve got this and that is enough’ ends the anxiety, the stress, the yearning for more. It ends the disruption.

Is peace our pathway back to self?

I think so but it is a path that leads us back out too. Peace doesn't just happen; it must be actively sought out. This involves looking for ways to create harmony in our relationships, community, and within. It might mean resolving conflicts, practicing forgiveness, or fostering understanding and compassion.

All which are the path of searching for peace.

Now this all sounds lovely but let me just note how much easier it sounds than is. As a mother of a 4 and 6 year old, peace is often a far off idea. I am trying to bring the peace to their disagreements, I try to encourage it with the albiet fun screaming that starts at 7am, and I try to create some structure in their world of fantasy, as little as possible yes, but this is still often for the above reasons and any moment I need to get us out the door on time, say every school morning. Yes… peace. It begins to feel a little unrealistic, but it is there if I search for it.

Hidden in the moments after bedtime stories as we snuggle our last goodnight snuggle. It is in the moments like this one, when they are staying in bed and sleeping, which with those minds full of fantasy has often been disrupted with constant getting up for reassurance. It is there in the moment of a morning coffee when they take their chaos outside, like little roosters cooing so sweetly but so loudly to let the neighbourhood know it is awake time. Peace is in the moments I remember I am so luckily that they are safe and happy and despite the stress of it all I am glad for the loud mess of it that tells me we are healthy and happy.

Peace is powerful to search for. For when you do, you reflect on all you have and what you love. Peace is a space of love. So searching for it will fill you in the same way love does.

Where have you found unlikely inpsiration lately?

Photo by Kishan Modi on Unsplash