Peace Part Four - A conversation

 

This week we are sitting with peace.  We are inviting peace over for a cup of coffee.  What do you think peace might want to say to you?  I don’t mean that rhetorically.  I want you to create a conversation with peace today.

 

Suddenly some of you stop reading!  Wait…come back.  I’ll go first.

 

Me:              Peace, I am so glad you stopped by today.  Here, have a seat.  Please stay for a while.

Peace:          You are most welcome, Wes.  Although, you know, I am always here hovering and hanging around.

Me:              Really?  Always?  Because I have to tell you have sat through some meetings where it felt like you were off visiting Planet Pluto.  There have been some family conversations where I am not sure you were invited or welcomed to the table.

Peace:          Oh, yeah.  I know that peace isn’t always taught or caught in the world today.  I know people pursue my fellow word neighbors from the dictionary of “Power,” “Prestige,” and “Privilege.”   I see how people think that life is a game where someone, maybe even God, is keeping score.  But, even in the most difficult moments, I am there.

Me:              I really want to believe you, but to tell you the truth, it’s hard, especially right now.  Have you seen the news?  The virus with a new variant, the hatred that hovers in the air and is blared at us in the 24-hour news cycle.  There is this thing called, “Twitter,” which can feel like a toxic space.  Don’t even get me started on our leaders. 

Peace:          I realize and recognize that people think I can only be found on mountain tops or through certain practices.  But really, I am part of the air you breathe.  I have woven myself into oxygen.  With every breath I enter you, try to clean up what is within you, and try to pull from you the stress and strain that causes you to miss my abiding presence.

Me:              Wow.  I have to tell you, that sounds good.  But also challenging.

Peace:          Challenging? 

Me:              It just isn’t the way most of us are wired.  Then, I have this interaction with someone who causes the tiny vein in my neck to pulse and the flight/flight/flee/flock part of my brain goes into red alert.

Peace:          Oh, yes, fear.  Fear and I are in an amazing dance with each other.  We are not enemies.  Actually, we need each other.  You can’t levitate your way through life.  You need to practice letting fear and me share time with each other.

Me:              I’d never thought of that.  I guess I always assumed you could only have one emotion at a time.

Peace:          Well, it does take practice, a lot of practice, to invite both fear and peace to the table.  But just as it takes intentionality to let hope hold you or joy escape from you or love to flow forth; there is lots of space within your soul for all of us.  Just like you can have more than one friend; you can have more than one emotion.

Me:              Can we just sit for a few moments with each other.

Peace:          I’d really enjoy that.  I love you and along to hold you.

 

May you today sit with peace.  Listen to peace.  And may you hear peace say, “I love you and pray for you and long to spend time with you.”  Amen.