November 9, 2011

Last Thursday, November 4, a woman drove her car to the Port Mann bridge, stopped and stepped out into harm's way. In one instant she exchanged her earthly coat for her eternal one. No one will ever really know what she was thinking as she was deciding to stop. Is it possible she was feeling unimportant, that her life didn't matter, that no matter what she did, nothing would ever be any different?

She changed her life forever. And thousands of other lives were also changed. As the traffic snafu rolled out, multitudes of plans were altered: doctors appointments, auditions, interviews, dinner dates, legal consultations, banking transactions, daycare deadlines, workouts.... all changed and rearranged. Thousands of drivers spent four hours in their car instead of one hour, or an hour instead of five minutes. The chaos changed everybody's day, at least on the surface, for the worse.

We are all connected, intertwined, resonating together here in the world. We just don't always see it. "Everybody else" is affected by "everybody else". My actions change everything. When what I do is driven by a deep belief in my heart (the real me!) that I am loved magnificently by my Heavenly Father and that Jesus died, was buried and rose again to bring me into peace with such a magnificent God, everything changes for the better. When what I do is driven by fear, fatigue, sadness or discouragement , the changes I make in the world around me are not for the better. Thoughts become feelings and feelings become beliefs and beliefs become words and words become actions. Jesus said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. It's a lot to think about.

November 4, 2011

The place that I work is not peaceful. I would suppose that in nobody's workplace does peace really abound. That's why they call it “work”. I guess since the nature of “work” is to deliver a product or provide a service, somebody on each side always wants a little more for a little less.

Where I work, the customer is someone with an illness of the heart or mind shopping for peace. Their “real world” is one distorted by delusions, hallucinations, anxiety, mood disorders or cognitive disorganization. This sends them in search of medication, psychotherapy, treatment plans, groups, counseling and just plain friendship and support to help them move beyond their feelings and beliefs to function comfortably and happily and safely in society. Daily, every mood from hopeless depression or crippling anxiety to mania, anger or outrageous grandiosity swirl around our office. Sometimes, even we the so-called “normal” become vulnerable to unexpected moods or views and our own environment becomes temporarily disorganized, chaotic and unsafe. So no... there is no peace.

I have come to realize that this is a “real world” exercise in understanding what Jesus meant when He said, “Peace I leave with you.” The Bible says that the God of Peace sent Jesus, the Prince of Peace to create a Covenant of Peace and teach a Gospel of Peace. I'm learning.... excruciatingly slowly it seems ... that (just like he said) Jesus IS my peace. Peace is not a goal, it's a realm, and it can be my “real world”. It's a realm where I live and operate in love and am delivered from ideas of self-protection or fear. It's a realm where I don't work at being a peacemaker. Where I am just a peace carrier. Where my “work” is to accept Jesus' gift of peace with myself and just live there.

It's very hard work to enter into rest. There's a whole lot to let go of to get there. But whenever I AM there, even for brief moments, life is surprisingly easy. And whenever I am there...... I can pass it on.