About to be running late driving to my office suddenly here all around me compelling presence presenting itself in this garb’s peace-infused moment! Pulled over. Got out of the car. Walked out into this presence. Surrounded, filled, & enlivened within its flow! Light & shadows changing by the second. Soft wind wafting. Walked into my first meeting minutes later beaming something not of my own making. In the eyes of others I could see the same presence. A torch shared!
Inner peace is GREAT and it’s not the ultimate end in life. Nor is abiding inner peace a matter of happenstance, privileged birth, or current happiness with one’s immediate circumstances! Seeing our little baby crawling for the first time was miraculous. There was the instant insight, “Our lives are forever changed!” Life moves. Life moves on. Life evolves. Do we continue to grow in the midst of so many changes? If so, uncreated peace flows uninhibited for greater ends without end.
Peace flows like a river, yes! This streaming of peace is of God, yes! This ever-steady wellspring of peace becomes actual in our lives only as we live in love within this abundance of life’s joy, beauty, wonder, & grace. Life moves and we in order to have peace flowing through us to share with others in love by grace, we must grow, change, & evolve within this river’s buoyant nurturance. This entails joy, beauty, wonder, & grace, AND streaming of life involves suffering, letting go, stark choices, moment’s of inner darkness, confusions, and dark nights of the soul. All because we’re human and because life moves ceaselessly.
“This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy …. life belongs to the community …. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid torch … I want to make it burn as brightly as possible …” George Bernard Shaw
From First Letter of John 1:7 “…if we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” May this fellowship be the passing of this torch of eternal light!! From Gospel of John 20:19 “Peace be with you.” Passing on this torch in faith results in PEACE being shared. How it is received and manifested by others is the opportunity given/shared in faith and hope.
Oh Sacred Source of all life, how precious this torch its light birthing Peace surpassing all understanding! Good New’s splendor! Amen.
Curt
The church is currently closed for in-person worship due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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