It’s the end of the second week of Advent. This week was all about peace. How peaceful are you feeling at the moment? If this is the “most wonderful time of the year” there sure are a lot of grumpy people out there. I think they have lost their peace. (or their minds in holiday shopping).
It feels like the closer that we get to Christmas, the busier that we get. There is shopping, cooking, decorating, and parties. I’m not skipping out on celebrations to do work, work can wait, celebrating with friends and family is important.
It’s easy to keep your peace when you are on retreat, your phone is not ringing off the hook, and there is a not a little voice calling your name. What about the rest of the time? How do you keep your peace in traffic, in the long lines, or at work?
Like most things, it takes practice. Peace comes from prayer. When is your prayer time? I used to listen to mass on my morning commute. I would at least get to listen to the readings and maybe the homily before I arrived. Now, I have that prayer time when I take my daily walk. You can pray anytime, even in line. It may even make the line go by a little faster if you pray for each person in front of you.
Think of it like this. We all have a place of peace inside of us. Is it full or empty? How do you fill it up? Are you taking a few minutes each day to stop and marvel? Stop and wonder? Maybe we need to be wonder-full in order to be peace-full.
As we keep moving through Advent, don’t allow others to take your peace. You are in control of that, you can find it wherever you go because it only leaves you of you give it up. May God’s peace be with you as you continue on your Advent journey.
