Peace for Advent

    My mother-in-law often used to quote a saying,  "Peace at any price."  Peace is priceless.  Without it, there is no rest for the weary.  Philip Keller in his book "A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm" talks about how restless sheep become and how they fail to thrive when their peace is disturbed.  We, too, become anxious and fractious and fail to do well when there is no peace in our lives.  How can we find the peace we need?
    There are three kinds of peace that are crucial to our well-being.  The first is peace WITH God.  As long as we struggle to go our own way and do our own thing and ignore our Creator and Redeemer, there will be unrest within, because God has made us with a deep need to know Him and acknowledge His Lordship in our lives.  When we accept the Prince of Peace as our Savior and surrender completely to His control, there is a tremendous sense of relief.  As one man put it,  "Lord, I've been my problem for a long time, but I'm not my problem anymore.  I'm Your problem now!"  This acceptance of Christ and commitment to Him will bring us peace WITH God.
    Second, there is that peace OF God which is beyond human understanding.  It comes about when we pray about everything in our lives--all our needs, problems, and concerns--and entrust it all into God's hands.  But, unconfessed sin can disturb that peace, and we must keep our repentance up to date, confessing as we sin, if we want to continually experience that wonderful peace OF God.
    A third kind of peace that is of vital importance to us is peace with other people.  Few aspects of life destroy our peace as thoroughly as fractured relationships.  God gives us His love with which to love others, even those that are more difficult to love.  He makes it possible for us to forgive others as He has forgiven us, so we need to say, "I'm sorry.  Please forgive me," as often as needed.  We find a sweet kind of peace in the pleasure of happy relationships with other people.
    I have a little chihuahua that loves to settle down in my lap and take a nap.  I can hear her sigh with contentment as she relaxes.  I, too, can find peace and contentment in the Presence of my Heavenly Father as I rest and relax in Him and in His care for me.

Father, thank You that, through Your Son, the Prince of Peace, we can have peace with You and know we are Your children for all eternity.  Thank You that You care about every concern we have, and we can commit all our cares into Your keeping and trust You to bring about the best in our lives.  Thank You for Your love with which we can love others and Your forgiveness of us that we can pass on to others.  May all our relationships be sweet.  Amen.