Seeking Peace and Place
Amid chaos, we seek peace in nature.
On a river’s edge, fog hangs heavy, blurring autumn’s foliage. Weightless, yet dense, its smoky fingers shroud me in prayer. The sound of a single heart beats in ancient rhythms, grounded on lands mixed in blood and nurtured with change. God’s breath sends leaves, colored with life and etched with death, swirling and dancing final encores against the morning sky.
Robins and thrushes gather by the river, bringing their melodies to God’s stage. Peace descends as the morning sun ascends into the heavens, lifting fog like praise. In God’s creation, my soul joins in harmony with His wonders. Rooted on His soil and embraced by His world, I understand His love and witness His magnificence.
Finding God in nature compels our search to discover greater beauty and incomprehensible love. His creation floods our minds with wonder and stills our souls to serenity. Wanting more beauty, more love, and more peace, we often extend the quest into His church.
Nestled within brick and mortar, God’s bride draws us close to hear His word, find His people, and praise His name. We commune through acts of contrition and confession. We are the same. Coming from gentle days or escaping from raging war, we arrive indistinguishable in sin-drenched clothes.
Everyone is equally lost and in need of rescue, grace, and mercy. You and I enter with stain-filled pasts desperate for the soul-covering Savior. In His church, all are welcome and find common ground on holy ground.
The church’s sanctuary contains room for all survivors, staggering to find healing, experience love, and understand His unshakeable peace. God’s welcome wagon carries greeters for His people. They see through blurred lenses equipped with vision to notice longing hearts, searching souls, and seeking spirits.
Beauty morphs and new wonders are viewed in the lost who bury sins through clear waters. Beauty understands aching hearts and delivers meals. Beauty translates the echoes of God’s voice into service for the needy and hugs for the hurting. In these spaces, we see the beauty of the Creator mirrored in the eyes of His people. Beauty is everywhere we look, everywhere we are, and everywhere we want to go because His beauty now lies within.
We lift eyes to serve Him, not ourselves. To focus on His will, not ours. To love – Him, others, ourselves. His glory transforms us to think differently and value thoughtful wisdom over quick answers. His glory guides within.
And yet, I search for my place. My place in His Kingdom to do His will, perform my tasks, and utilize my gifts. The place where the transformation of one changed heart can radiate God’s joy to others.
Amid my chaos, I search. Alone in a crowd and silent in the noise, I listen. On bended knees, I seek His way. In the quiet, I am still, focused on Him, and hear His answer.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
-Isaiah 26:3 ESV
Place isn’t somewhere to go or something to do. Place is found within God’s presence. In beauty or chaos, place is anywhere He leads and everywhere I go. He always goes with me. And where He goes, peace follows.
In His promises, I surrender. In His faithfulness, I trust. In His peace, I rest.
