MONDAY, MONDAY, PEACEFUL MONDAY

MONDAY!  It's Monday-all over again.  Although the sky is dark and overcast, it is not a "blue" Monday because we received rain and plenty of it.  The grass is starting to green up and I don't need to fill the bird bath by hand.  The tomatoes are looking healthy, but I think it is too late to expect many tomatoes.  The temperature has become "normal" again and that makes sleeping at night a lot more pleasant, too.  We will love it while we have it.

I have been thinking about PEACE.  The kind of peace that is born and nurtured from within.  Some people have a great epiphany and their hearts and spirits are filled with peace in an "instant" with God's grace and gift.  I don't know anyone like that, but I am sure there are many that are filled with the serenity of peace and the Holy Spirit.  I am not one of them although as I get older I find more peace in the everyday happenings of life.  I struggle to find PEACE in my daily affairs, as I think most of us do.  I'm no saint, but have "improved" over the years(I hope).  Perhaps PEACE can never be found in this world of the flesh and bone, but only a fragment of it in our hearts, just enough to entice us to search for such a mystical condition/union within the soul.

I have read that the secret of PEACE is in the surrender and recognition that we do not belong to ourselves, but to God, who has redeemed us through HIS sacrifice upon the cross.  "INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT, O LORD."  I don't know that we ever fully understand what that means or if we do give ourselves to God, without reserve.  The Saints probably came closest to this mystical embrace of calmness and serenity, yet even so many found it a hard road to travel.  The path can be pretty tough at times.

I strive to find PEACE or a good semblance of it while I am on this journey.  I hope that I can pass on a little of God's good graces and acceptance of the gift of serenity in all things.  It is a work in progress...a slow one at that.  Let the Holy Spirit Rule.

PEACE I LEAVE

WITH YOU,

MY PEACE

I GIVE UNTO YOU.

NOT AS THE WORLD

GIVES,

I GIVE UNTO YOU.

LET NOT

YOUR HEART

BE TROUBLED,

NEITHER

LET IT BE AFRAID.

John 14: 27

   "LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH

AND LET IT BEGIN WITH ME"

PEACE...WE COULD USE PLENTY OF IT.

END