God with us - Week 23: John 14:27
The phrase peace and quiet has been used since the mid-1800s. I’ve often heard it as a question from a tired mum, “can I just have some peace and quiet?” or shared as a craving, “I just need some peace and quiet.” It’s the kind of thing we say when we feel overwhelmed; our senses are overloaded, and we need the volume of our lives to mute for a moment. This well-known phrase describes a state of “tranquility and freedom from disturbance.” It takes us to a place where we feel calm and safe within ourselves, where all is peaceful, and all is quiet.
Or is it?
I’ve read plenty of Christian and secular articles that encourage us to carve out moments of silence during the day and spend time in peace and quiet. I’ve tried this discipline on numerous occasions and written quite a few blogs about it. The problem is that if you give my brain a chunk of silence to play with, it will go to town, filling it with weird, wonderful, and often gruesome stories. It will grab a thought and spin it around, whizzing through all its possibilities. My brain sees silence as an opportunity to explore, and the anxieties of the day surface as my mind zips from one thought to another.
For me, quiet rarely equals peace.
As much as this frustrates me, I recognise it’s also how God made me. My active imagination is what enables me to create, make links and write! In previous peace-seeking attempts, I’d get annoyed with myself for not being able to rest in the peace and quiet of silence.
I don’t think like that now.
Instead of focusing on keeping my mind peaceful and quiet, I focus on the source of peace.
“Peace I leave with you; My (perfect) peace I give to you; not as the world gives you do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. (Let my perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.)”
John 14:27 (AMP)
The kind of peace offered by Jesus isn’t just “tranquility and freedom from disturbance,” it’s the kind of deep peace that calms fear and helps troubled hearts to find rest. There is much value in times of silence, but I find peace when I spend time focusing on its source. I find peace when I take a verse of Scripture and turn it into a picture or when I listen to a piece of music inspired by God. Peace finds me when everyone is out of the house, and I’m sat writing with God, and Watson (our Old English Sheepdog) sat by my side.
There are lots of ways that we try to find peace and quiet in this busy world, but our verse this week reminds us that peace, God’s peace, is with us always.
Kay Moorby
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