Peace Like a River

Oh my goodness! I cannot believe that my last post was nearly two years ago! I used to love doing this so much, but LIFE… 

You know how sometimes life is just… Well, it gets a little tough. And it’s not always because something catastrophic has happened. Many times it’s just all the little things, and some bigger ones, that keep piling up on top of each other day by day, week by week, month by month, that suddenly out of nowhere seem to come crashing down on top of you. Kind of like when you go into the grocery store for just one or two items and don’t grab a shopping basket. Inevitably you find three or four more things that you “need” which you carefully arrange in your hands and arms as best you can (and you’re thinking, “I have GOT this…”)… And then you walk past the freezer aisle, and see that mango sorbet (which you think surely you can splurge on since you are only buying a few items), and suddenly! Yup. You are the one who slowly feels the half gallon of milk slipping out of the crook of your elbow, and now you’re squeezing the loaf of bread a little too tightly and the can of tomato sauce is digging into your forearm while you reach into the freezer… And in barely enough time for you to realize what even happened – YOU, my dear, are the one for whom the loudspeaker drolly tolls, “Clean up in aisle 2.” At least help is on the way. 

Oh, I am so there right now. 

Life – it goes through seasons like that sometimes. Everything goes through seasons, really. We wish that we could just STAY at the good places and avoid every bit that looks a little complicated or scary, but life’s just not like that. 

This river runs nearby where we live. I took this picture (above) in April. At this time of the year, the temperature is slowly getting warmer and some of the snow up in the high country is melting. As it melts, it runs off the mountainsides in small streams, runs down into larger streams, and eventually joins up with the river. It’s an impressive amount of water.

I took this picture in June at the same spot. At this time of the year, run off is peaking. Water seems to be coming from everywhere. Flooding and mudslides are not uncommon events. All this water is still making its way down to the river which is running much higher, as you can see. It’s a scary amount of water now. Standing alongside it and hearing the roar and watching the rapids feels really intimidating. 

By the end of the summer the river will be even lower than it was in April.

The river – it goes through seasons too. It can’t stay in one place either. It has to change. It has to adapt. It has to deal with whatever comes its way.

Do you want to know what else I think is interesting about rivers? The Bible says that PEACE can be like a river. Peace. When hear that word I think of quiet things. Things that are gentle. Things that are still. A sleeping baby. A bench seat under the shade of a big tree. Flowers blowing in the breeze. And it’s true, those things are peaceful. God’s peace helps us feel a sense of calm inside ourselves even when the storms are raging outside. But I think there is another aspect to consider. If peace is like a river…

WAIT UP A SECOND. Did I show you the river?

PEACE!

It suddenly occurred to me a few months ago, while sitting in church listening to PJ preach (about something unrelated… I promise I was trying to pay attention…), that PEACE like a RIVER… THAT kind of peace – it’s POWERFUL. It’s REFRESHING. It’s OVERWHELMING. If peace is like a river – it’s NOT passive. It’s ACTIVE!!

What are you facing in your season of life? Is it something huge and painful and scary? Is it something so small that you hardly want to acknowledge to anyone that it is an issue and you want to sweep it under the rug and forget about it? Is it all the little things, and some bigger ones, that are piling up and threatening to overwhelm you?

When we read in our Bibles about peace, I’m just not convinced that we should picture a small stream running through a meadow. I think we should picture this river – powerful, refreshing, overwhelming, and active. If I think of that when I read these words of Jesus, these verses take on even deeper meaning for me:

John 14: 27 (NIV) – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

John 16: 33 (NIV) – “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Peace that comes from God… it’s not passive. It’s powerful and active. And I don’t know about you, but I need it. It’s what gets me through all those different seasons. Let me not forget that.

"For this is what the Lord says: 'I will extend peace to her like a river...'"

-Isaiah 66: 12a (NIV)