Thought for the Day - Wednesday 30 September

Thought for the Day – Wednesday 30th September ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’ (John 14:27) I am sure we all crave a little peace and quiet at times, time to unwind, time to reflect, time to just be on our own, time to do as little as possible and not feel guilty about doing nothing, just ‘me time’ as they say. It seems too that no matter where you look today we are being promised peace or products which offer us peace of mind. So the adverts would say take out a pension plan or an insurance policy and have peace about your future. Book a holiday for next year or the year after and get away from it all in the sun and by the way get extra insurance due to Covid-19 just for extra peace of mind. We are encouraged to buy a more up-to-date vacuum cleaner or car or computer for allegedly these will take all the stresses and strains from our lives and bring us peace. We are now even being encouraged to download mindfulness apps to help us with our times of relaxation leading to a more peaceful life. It appears that anything and everything promises relaxation and peacefulness all according to the advertisers leading to greater happiness in life. I suppose it is true that some of us have more leisure time, more money and more gadgetry than those who went before us, our parents and grandparents, yet still I feel we live in a world where stress abounds and as a result many more people speak of yearning for inner peace. However as the old adage says, peace, like happiness, cannot be bought. Actually it could even be the case that striving for all these things offered in the adverts is the very thing that is adding to the stress in our lives and destroying any hope of peace within us! Yet, we cannot dent that if we do manage to find a little time for peace in our lives we do feel the benefit of it, it can be good to get away from it all and feel a sense of peace, but ultimately our real peace comes from God. When we are fully aware of God’s love for us and that love being made real within us through the presence of the Holy Spirit then we can have that real, true, deeper, inner peace. Actually we cannot really create peace ourselves, but we can grow it within us by making time for God, by making time for prayer, by making time for reflection and in such times making sure we are listening for God and being open to him. This may mean letting go and seeing life in a different way, seeing it from another perspective but it also means that we take hold of a different sort of peace, that peace being the peace that passes all understanding and that is a peace to be prized. Prayer Loving Lord, May your peace go with us wherever we may be, may you guide us through each challenge of life we may face, protect us when we are in need of protection and inspire us with your love. Raise our awareness of your presence within us and in all those we see around us until the day you bring us home rejoicing to our place of ultimate peace and rest with you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.