More… Peace, John 16:32-33

You and I, all of us, are all living in between.
Living in between darkness and light…
Living in between despair and hope…
Living in between pain and peace…

We are not robots, we are human and we are fragile, we have fears…
And that we are physical beings, with cells that naturally decline or get disease and we feel pain.

One of my favorite poems captures this reality:
It starts with this line…
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And it’s true that part of us rages against the pain of the world.
It is a raw, emotional response to being persecuted.
But you can’t rage forever…
And Jesus doesn’t call us into raging… even in the face of persecution…
Jesus calls us out of pain into peace.

But… how?
First – be still…
Actually find a quiet place, a trusted place and be still…
And in that stillness call upon God…
Be still and know that God is with you, you have not been abandoned…
Be still and know that you have the strength of God in you…
And in that stillness, in the calm, recognize that darkness exists, do not deny darkness
In scripture Jesus calls the darkness, trouble, persecution…
Darkness exists and is relentless in its persecution of you…
But once you have intentionally, purposefully recognized darkness… call it out… name it…
And in naming that darkness, however you can, whatever it is, you are no longer simply a victim… filled with pain…
In simply naming the darkness, you have already stepped in the other direction…
In simply acknowledging the darkness you step in the belief of light…
And then the call for us to live in the light…
Each and every day, living in the light, doing what good we can… it’s that hard, but yet that simple.

Light has come, light is coming, light is here, the light of vibrant life…
Be still… and know that God is leading you into more peace.