I picture peace like I picture sunrises over the ocean.

Water painted smooth and blue…
A simple, feathery blanket of white sand…
Perfect silence, uninterrupted by any living creature…
The sky a smooth, blank painters canvas…
Vivid hues of red and coral flooding into an orange overhead that somehow, seamlessly fades into never-ending blue…

I see it perfect and steady.

But the most beautiful sunrises are often much different than my perfection standard.

The ocean searches restlessly for land, always beating and pounding the shore…
Lumpy, wet, dotted with bird prints and seaweed defines the intricately unique landscape…
Birds soaring through the brushstroke skies and scampering across the damp, cool earth…
Streaked and smudged with clouds, the horizon is a patchwork of textures and patterns…
And the colors…oh the colors! Never predictable, changing even as you look, soft yet vivid at once, but always breathtaking…

The most beautiful sunrises, are marred by clouds and wind and birds and the sound of waves crashing and the ceaseless changing of the skies. But somehow, in all it’s activity and complexity, it is calm and still and peaceful if only you will stop to breathe it in.

For the peace won’t be seen unless you do. The crashing waves and streaky sky and flying birds will be just another chaotic symphony…unless you stop and breathe. And when you stand still and let the chaos fly and swirl and pound around you, you will hear the symphony and see the Artist and be caught up in the peaceful chorus of worship.

But only if you stand still and breathe in and see and hear and touch and smell that which points to the Author of peace. Only if you breathe deeply of Him…will you be able to breathe out with gratitude and love and peace towards men.

Be blessed
<3