There is a peaceful place you yearn to be when life feels hectic. When the pace picks up, where do you long to go, knowing that in your particular, peaceful place, the pace slows?
Humans require a peaceful place with a slower pace every now and then, as noted in the commandment to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. The command is not for God but for us. Good comes when we hit the pause button for an hour, a day, or longer, even when it means stranding a bottomless to-do list.
The peaceful place I often imagine is near water: a stream, river, lake. A watery site where birds hover and come to visit. Is this why my favorite color is blue, I just now realize? I know I’m not alone in finding peace by water. It’s where Jesus tended to hang out when he hit the pause button. It is why lake cabins are forever in demand. I love to watch the water in motion, quietly offering life to mysterious creatures below and to happy onlookers like me. Does it have something to do with our very first swim in the amniotic waters? Who knows.
I do know there is little natural water to be found where I live. We are all shocked when the grass is still green in July! Lakes are few and far between in southwest North Dakota. There is a lovely river not far from me, but not so easy to visit.
And all this time I long to be spectating waters, it occurs to me, peace may not be so far away after all. The disruption of peace is not limited to the particular places where the pace slows. In the wonky rhythm of summer, there is peace in a deep and renewing breath, in the shifting colors of a yard populated by perennials (thanks, Marcus), and in the broad view of badlands or a field of seeds quietly growing food in the darkness of the soil.
Peace is not only there, it is also here.
Dear Lord, keep me from overlooking peace because I expect it to look like something else. Amen.
Lisa Lewton 