I remember the whitewashed lettering painted across the red barn – Peace on Earth. Each December a towering star lit the way for the message to sink into the hearts of all who traveled the country road. In the darkness of the winter sky, one couldn’t help but ponder the way of peace.

Decades later, the elusiveness of peace still surrounds the season, now more than ever. When the world is still spinning in the uncertainty of COVID variants, rising inflation, and political tensions, peace is a much sought-after commodity. We’ve found ourselves wrestling with more than was ever expected, and although we’ve acquired a greater appreciation for family time, self-care, and work/life balance, we’re still left grappling with the residue of 2021 and the stress of busily making the most of the 86,400 seconds in our day.

It seems the more we free ourselves, the more we fill up the free moments because life doesn’t wait, and circumstances need tending. But I wonder, in all the energy expended to free ourselves from stress and busyness if we’re not missing something. I wonder if in all the juggling to try and control everything and everyone around us, to make our world neat and tidy, we’ve created a false sense of peace; one that cannot withstand the test of time.

Authentic peace begins within.

Authentic peace grows by cultivating our inner white space, not by harnessing our outward tendencies. Share on X

Perhaps this mindset, this inward state of being is what frees us in the midst of doing. And what if this freeing mindset can exist in the midst of doing?

Isn’t this what we so desperately long for? To move through our life regardless of our circumstances, knowing and living in a state of inner peace. A peace not dependent on control but bolstered through faith. A deep inner confidence that no matter what happens, no matter the challenges we face, the pain we feel or the losses we experience, we will be fine. And this knowing frees us to realize we have the choice of how we respond to every circumstance. We have the choice of what we make every circumstance mean. We have the choice of how we want to feel about it all.

Peace is a choice, and it begins on the inside.

These 3 truths have created a huge shift in my own life as I’ve grappled with circumstances outside of my control; things I never asked for or wanted in my life, but they barreled in with the force of a thunderstorm, relentless and unyielding. You know because you’ve experienced the same in your life, and through all of it, we get to choose peace.

Not a Polyana peace and not a peace void of feeling everything our soul needs to feel. It’s a peace that feels deeply but doesn’t get swallowed up in the emotion or the circumstance because the view above the horizon is always in sight to remind us to look toward the choice that is going to bring the most calm – the most hope. Peace is always a choice.

We always have the choice of how to respond to anything and anyone.

We always have the choice to feel how we want to feel.

We always have the choice to think whatever we want to think about anything and anyone.

Peace is a mindset.

So why not choose what brings us the most peace in any given moment? Why not choose how we want to feel? Why not choose the thought that makes us feel most peaceful?

How different we would show up in and through every circumstance!

We could let go of control and step away from the constant striving.

We could choose the path of faith over the path of fear.

We could choose to be at home in our own head and heart.

Let this holiday be a time to cultivate the kind of peace that reaches beyond every irritating, hurtful conversation, every unpaid bill, every difficult health issue, every obnoxious relative, and every unwanted circumstance.

To show up as the best version of ourselves…not for everyone else…for us!

 

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