By Victor M. Parachin
During one hot, dry summer in Southern California, a brush fire swept through Topanga Canyon, a suburb of Los Angeles, and destroyed 200 homes. Norman Vincent Peale, famed New York City minister and author, learned one of the burned homes belonged to a friend. Peale called him to offer sympathy: “I”m sorry to hear your house burned down.”
Peale expected his friend would be traumatized by the fire and his losses, but was astonished that his friend sounded at peace with the tragedy. “Yes, the house did burn down,” he said, “but my wife and children are safe, and we”re all just as healthy as we were before. All we lost were some material things””they can be replaced.” After thanking Peale for his call of concern, the man concluded by saying: “Call me when I have some real trouble.”
Obviously, Peale”s friend knew how to remain serene and tranquil in spite of losing his house and belongings. However, most people would not exhibit such calm composure when facing such a loss. In fact, many experience life as a series of frenzied, feverish, and frantic events””phones ring, the traffic is heavy, an employer is unreasonable, a customer is rude, a personal or professional crisis arises. All such events seem to squeeze a sense of personal peace out of daily life.
“The world is too much with us,” wrote poet William Wordsworth in the 1800s. And, Jesus acknowledged that life could become upsetting: “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).
Yet, life can and should be much more than trials, troubles, and the crowding of activities. It is possible to experience personal peace in spite of life”s demands. Jesus also said: “Peace I leave you; my peace I give you . . . Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
The apostle Paul specifically identifies peace as a quality of a mature spiritual life: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22). Here are some simple suggestions for bringing more peace, serenity, and tranquility into daily life.
Memorize the Serenity Prayer. In 1928, Reinhold Niebuhr became a professor at New York”s Union Theological Seminary. Although he would write many books on ethics and theology, he is best remembered for his Serenity Prayer: “God give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”
Commit this peace-producing prayer to memory. Recite it daily and whenever you experience inner turmoil.
Judy, 37, the owner of a growing but struggling business, has the Serenity Prayer written on paper taped on her bathroom mirror. “Having the prayer taped on the mirror is a healing symbol for me. As I wash my face, I also wash away all my anxieties and worries,” she says.
Take time off from the world. Remember this wisdom from writer Maya Angelou. “Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us,” she writes in her book Wouldn”t Take Nothing for My Journey Now.
Some effective ways of withdrawing temporarily from everyday cares and concerns include spending a few hours in a botanical garden, a day alone hiking along a mountain trail, or an entire weekend at a spiritual retreat center.
Treat all people with dignity. It”s amazing how much inner peace can be cultivated by treating every person we meet with dignity, respect, and honor. Responding to others with courtesy and esteem nurtures peace in yourself and in others.
One Sunday morning in 1865, a black man entered a fashionable Episcopalian church in Richmond, Virginia. When Communion was served, he walked down the aisle and knelt at the altar. A rustle of resentment swept the congregation. “How dare he!” was the mood. Episcopalians used the common cup.
Then a distinguished worshiper stood up, stepped forward to the altar, and knelt beside the black man. It was Robert E. Lee, former Confederate general. He spoke these powerful words to the congregation: “All men are brothers in Christ. Have we not all one Father?” Instructed and humbled, the congregation followed his lead.
Drop worry. “Worry is spiritual nearsightedness, a fumbling way of looking at little things, and of magnifying their value,” declared Anna Robertson Brown, a 19th-century writer.
Interestingly, the word worry comes from an old Anglo-Saxon verb wyrgan meaning “to choke or strangle.” Worry is an “emotional weed.” Left unchallenged, it spreads quickly, strangling and choking the inner life. Worry diminishes an individual by making opponents stronger and problems larger than they really are. Worry drains energy, reduces confidence, heightens fear, and inhibits positive thought and action.
The biblical writer declares: “You . . . worry your way through life, and what do you have to show for it?” (Ecclesiastes 2:22, Today”s English Version).
Drop worry by beginning to live one day at a time. A good example is TV”s Kathie Lee Gifford. Some time ago a disturbed man was threatening to harm her. From his jail cell, where he is serving two life terms for another crime, he continued to write Gifford threatening letters.
“From the start I decided I was not going to worry and let this spoil my life,” she says. “I have to hand certain things over to God. It”s the living out of my faith that makes me a believer. God doesn”t just get rid of hardship or suffering, he heals in the midst of it.”
Begin each day with prayer. Many people find that morning prayer establishes the right foundation for everything that follows throughout the day. Morning prayer becomes a spiritual anchor that helps us maintain balance and stability, no matter what events emerge.
Of course, starting each day with prayer will mean rising a little earlier, but even 20 minutes spent in prayer can make a great difference. Begin that prayer time by expressing gratitude to God for your health and wealth. Next, commit the entire day to God: opportunities and obstacles, dreams and disappointments. Affirm that you will use the next 24 hours wisely.
If you”re convinced you”re too busy to add prayer time, consider this wisdom from St. Francis de Sales: “Every Christian needs a half hour of prayer each day, except when he is busy, then he needs an hour.”
Be a good neighbor. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus commanded (Matthew 22:39). Offer your assistance to people in the neighborhood.
Lucy, 33, a suburban Chicago mother of two preschoolers, does grocery shopping for an elderly couple who live on her street. “It only takes me an hour a week and I feel so good about doing it,” she says. At other times, Lucy drives the elderly couple for medical appointments. “By doing this I”ve made two terrific friends. While my driving and errand running does help them out, I feel I”ve benefited much more. I can”t begin to describe how much peace and joy doing this has brought into my life.”
Ultimately, peace, serenity, and tranquility are most likely to be present when we allow our lives to mirror the peace of God. Gerhard Tersteegen, an 18th-century German mystic, accurately observed: “God is a tranquil being and abides in tranquil eternity. So must your spirit become a tranquil and clear little pool, wherein the serene light of God can be mirrored.”
Victor Parachin is an author and freelance journalist writing from Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is the third in his series on the fruit of the Spirit appearing throughout 2008.
0 Comments