Did you notice day 9 is missing?  That’s because part of pursuing peace for our family is realizing that Sunday is a day of rest. We worship, we gather, but we have made the decision to turn off computers, iphones, and electronics. Yesterday we spent the afternoon getting outdoors, exploring Northern Alabama as a family. We loved crunching the leaves, looking at old houses, and simply getting out in the fresh air.
    Part of keeping peace in my heart is the recognition that for peace to exist, my schedule cannot include having so many things to do all the time. To plan for rest, relaxation and play time with our family is as important as to plan for income and employment for Les and I. Recognizing there is a season for everything….and that includes a season of rest each day and week.

Pursuing peace is a discipline.  We allow into our lives many of the things, situations, and thoughts that either build us or take from us.  The last few months I have held on to too many things that I did not recognize were destroying my personal peace.  Perhaps it was stubbornness, perhaps it was steadfastness…my nature is to not give up on people or projects until they succeed. That is another way to say I want to make it happen, even it is about going past what is healthy for me or for them in helping. Choosing a peaceful life  also means understanding that there is more to balance than a schedule. It is in accepting and affirming that God is ultimately in control. That each of us have boundaries of our own actions and that we must give to others the respect to be responsible for their own actions.
God tells us to bring Him our worries, that we are not to worry about today or the future, that we are healed in Him, that in Abraham’s covenant we are provided for….yet….  God tells us to think on things that are lovely, pure, true…yet how often do we think on what has to be done, what can’t be fixed, what is beyond what we can control….
Choosing your thoughts is a discipline that is essential for personal peace.
Pursue peace by taking “time outs” to think on the beauty, thankfulness, and the truths of the Creator who made them, who knows the very hairs on your head, who hears your prayers and loves and forgives you whatever your situation may be when you ask him to…

Believing God is a discipline. As a Christian, I know many people who recognize God as the Sovereign God, but I know very very few who truly trust God.  Have you thought about that?  My Grandmother Geddie said “To worry is to deny God is God and that He has plans for your present, future, and best life”  Hmmm
Somehow it’s much easier to believe God is trustworthy for everyone else’s life somedays….that somehow I’ve managed to permanently not deserve for Him to choose to love me that way…Wouldn’t we shake our heads at our children if they said or believed such a thing?
Pursuing peace is about acknowledging the lies that Satan and the world put into our heads as a discipline. To be aware and notice those thoughts that are simply untrue and to replace them with Truth.
On Day 8, I encourage you to think on what is lovely, to acknowledge the blessings of God’s truth and to know that you are loved.

Pursuing peace means creating an environment that allows for rest. That may mean walking away from scheduling things, it may mean turning on music to work by, or turning it off. Sometimes that may mean simply straightening an area you cannot change much, like a hospital room, putting things in a tote as opposed to on the side table.  At home that may mean looking around and seeing what is simply taking up space.  We did that this week and will do it many more times for a few weeks (maybe months or years).  There are things in our home we keep because we haven’t tossed them yet, or they were given to us from so and so, or we spent money on them, or one hundred other guilt, stress, or energy absorbing reasons that in the big picture take away our peace.  In our case 4 bags went to the curb, 3 pieces of furniture were given away and a few boxes and bags of things are going to the local thrift store as a donation.

It feels good to know that small steps to clear unnecessary items from a room have begun to create peace in our environment too!  As I cleared things that perhaps would have been kept for all the wrong reasons, I did take a picture of a couple, but in general, I just game myself permission to not keep things that had produced negative or bad memories….or were simply not me.  We live in a small home, we are a close knit family, we are all working on wearing, keeping, and using only items that bring joy or function or both to our lives. Pursuing peace….becoming good stewards of what we have, sharing with others what we do not use or use to the extent they will be by another.
 
P.S.  The Declutter project took 25 minutes. T w e n t y -f i v e minutes to move the furniture to the curb, gather the obviously unneeded items, call the pick up center, and enjoy the progress as a family. A GREAT way to begin family night!

Each day as our family enacts what we discussed as important, more play time, more arts and creative projects, more down time, and less focus on the future or work and more focus on being where were are…..peace returns.
My focus this week has been to take time each day to do something creative. Whether its to take an hour an beautify for the fall season, create something with a yard sailing find (see the tag still on the metal pumpkin?) or to paint a piece of found furniture, just simply doing has brought me personal relaxation and peace.

Today I challenge you to set a time to truly deal with whatever it is that is interrupting your peace.  Maybe its a pile of to do laundry that simply makes you feel like a failure to have before you. Maybe its taxes that need to be done. Perhaps its concern for your financial future that you need to know the reality of the situation and how you will choose to deal with it. Perhaps its simply knowing you aren’t taking care of yourself and need to schedule an appointment to be checked on, so you can end senseless worry.  What are you bearing that is weighing you down?

Balance means different things to different people. When I think of balance it means the ability to flex to  make things work. There is no 50/50 in work/family life in my experience. Sometimes there are surges when you are needed 90% of the time to do 90% of the work…like when a baby is new and you’re the cow.  Other times we can make work life at home or elsewhere 30% of our world. Pursing peace means realizing that we all need work, play, study, rest, creative time and fun.  There has to be a balance of experiences to keep the perspective that leads to peace. Last night during a particularly stressed part of the day I took time to get out our fall dishes and set the table. Those few moments thinking on the pretty candles, meal that was cooking and time with my family set the stage to relax. Even Mr. Bingley got his Fall outfit on.

When we over focus on one area of our life or thoughts, we become stressed.  This week our family is purposefully taking evening walks and doing something creative in the evenings 2 nights this week. The laughter and joy that has brought has help us all realize that this is a happy home, we just needed more play time.  As we end the day and gather for prayer, it is amazing how just allowing for more fun time has audibly allowed us to realize more joy and peace in our day.

Day Four
Peace sometimes creeps away when we’re carrying too many things that we didn’t realize we were putting in our personal baggage, weighing us down.  Those of us who were raised to be responsible and pleasers have a special talent for owning guilt that isn’t ours.  We often continue to bear the burden of choices other people made that somehow we feel responsible for that truly aren’t ours.  I personally call this letting go of that kind of pain, shame, and guilt owning your own.  An elder friend shared with me that one day she looked at what she was carrying in her heart as a burden and realized that about 3/4 of what was there was not hers to own, that her actions could not, would not, and wouldn’t in the future fix the situation because they involved grown folks’ choices she had no control over.  She said she stopped the “what if’s”  the “I shoulda, coulda, woulda” jamboree and the “I was such a dog when” choruses that taunted her when she tried to sleep and realized that she could only orchestrate her own life, not her four childrens.  AMEN.  Peace comes from knowing your own boundaries, what you are and are not responsible for, and living between those lines with thanksgiving and praise for all that we are provided.  One of the best parts of my personal belief in God is that I know each day I can bring to Him that which I cannot handle.  I can take my concerns, fears, guilt to His court and lay them down.  The issue for me is too often I don’t want to burden Him with my concerns….and that is a boundary I am choosing to get over….God is God and I am not. He has time for me!

Matthew ²⁸ Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
 ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
 ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.