We have 3 short passages from the Bible today. As I sit with them, I realize that I have found my peace, just as our psalm today asks us to respond. Hmmm…That has not been true during most of my life, being at peace. “Something is different about you. You seem at peace,” I have heard only recently, over the last few years.
The responsorial psalm says it well for me, “I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap, so is my soul within me.” So how do I get there and stay there?
Something that resonates with me comes from one of my spiritual giants, St. Teresa of Calcutta. Mother Teresa said that peace begins with a smile. Her service to others, being present to them in whatever circumstance, has been a beautiful witness for me to strive for, but don’t misinterpret me here. I will probably never encounter abject poverty as she did in Calcutta. I do, however, have opportunities all around me if I choose to see them.
I seem to have gotten ahead of myself though, (which is usually how I come to most of my understandings, a very circuitous route (like Dennis the Menace).
I have learned I must put into my schedule things which force me to slow down, or learn through much trial and error, that the whole world still continues without me. I don’t have to schedule something during what would usually be personal family time, even if it’s something really good.
One way I’ve learned to make time was finding a spiritual director when I began parish work in the late ‘90s. Having a spiritual director allows me time to sit with, struggle and/or notice movements of God and the Holy Spirit in my life. These conversations have graced me by looking at situations with new eyes. They have been oasis times in the chaos of my daily life.
I offer you the following to think about where you find your inner peace.
The Giving Tree On Being Useless Shalom (the peace of the kingdom of God be with you).
Beth Price is a Secular Franciscan (OFS) and spiritual director who has worked in several parish ministry roles during the last 20 years. She is a proud mother of 3 adult children. Beth currently works at Diocesan. You can contact her at bprice@diocesan.com.
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