Carving Out Peace (audio also)
Carving out a space for peace
One breath at a time
One piano melody at a time
One tear at a time
Peace. Not Easy. Peace.
Unless you’re new here (and if you are new…ayeee party people) you’re aware that one of my endeavors is to rest and to create content that centers rest. I am a theologian that is concerned with care, softness, rest, and the peace that we deserve. I resist all forms of spirituality that would seek to make peace something that we can attain in the afterlife while demanding hardship here. To this end, I have always found it odd that some focus so much on damning people to hell with the contents of their messages/words that they don’t realize that many people are already living in one. Many of us are already living in the land of the valley of the shadow. It is hard to scare us. It is hard to motivate us through fear.
Peace is a worthy pursuit. I suppose I could talk about it in an abstract way, but for me I am thinking of an embodied knowing. Peace being that feeling you experience when your shoulders lower, when you take a deep breath and you feel the absence of danger. Peace being that which you experience when you are sitting across from someone you love (and you know that they love you back). Peace. The pursuit of peace has been on my mind lately, particularly in the wake of mass death that has been rolling through the new cycle. I know for many it would be easier to turn off the news; to hide. There is too much going on in our lives; gas prices through the roof, a pandemic raging, Jan 6th findings, to be bothered with consuming more chaos. While there is a conversation to be had about the proper influx of media consumption, I find that hiding from chaos doesn’t produce real peace.
“There is peace to be found”
Morgan Harper Nichols
The more that I pursue peace I find that it is something that at times has to be fought for. At other times it comes with the gentleness of a caress. Come what may, peace must be practiced and a place for peace must be carved out. I have often thought, especially in grief-times, that I wish the world would stop spinning so that I could get some rest and peace. Although I have come to experience pockets of joy, I note that the world keeps spinning…sometimes wildly. In these days I am carving out peace intentionally through intentional morning practices, therapeutic tools, running, and the love of those who love me best.
*I would love to hear any of you all’s thoughts on this post or topic. The comments are open :)
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