Peace

The Christian celebration of Epiphany is celebrated on or about January 6 every year. It commemorates the event of Jesus being acknowledged as the Messiah by the shepherds and the three Magi, when he was still an infant.

At my church, the kids have a tradition of making Epiphany stars out of metallic-colored cardboard, painting a different word on each star, and tying a ribbon through it to wear around your neck or hang on a wall. I decided that this year I would make an effort to live out whatever the word is on my star.

On Epiphany Sunday, 9-year-old Tyler proudly hands me a star that he had made himself. The word on it was "peace." Right away I thought, ok, how do I "do" peace?

Fast-forward to May. It seems as though for the past couple of weeks, God has put the word "surrender" on my mind and heart more than any other. It seems as though I've had an "a-ha!" moment, an epiphany, about surrender and peace. When two sides are in conflict, peace can most effectively be brought about when one side surrenders to the will of the other. (In the case where a compromise is agreed upon, both sides gain peace when each surrenders something.)

A-ha! If I am in a state of conflict in my private world, in order for me to have a sense of peace, I need to surrender fears, my conflicts, my self, daily (sometimes more frequently than that) to Jesus, the only one who can give me the peace that my soul craves.