I have been thinking a lot about how easy it is to lose our sense of peace without even realizing it. It does not usually happen all at once. It comes in small ways. A steady diet of bad news. A harsh word that lingers longer than it should. The quiet pull toward fear or resentment. Before long, joy feels farther away than it once did. And yet, I keep coming back to this reminder from Jesus, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10. That kind of life is not shallow or fleeting. It is rooted. It is steady. It is still available to us, even now.
I see more and more how there are things that try to take that from us. Not just the obvious brokenness in the world, but the subtle ways we begin to close ourselves off from one another. We get tired. We get guarded. We start drawing lines where there were never meant to be lines. Even within our own families, even among people we love, something can shift. And that is where I feel the call most deeply in my own life. To notice it. To name it. And then, as best I can, to turn back toward compassion instead of distance. Toward understanding instead of assumption. That is not always easy, but it is always worth it.
Peace and joy, at least as I am learning them, are choices we keep making. Not once, but over and over again. They ask something of us. They ask us to be attentive to what we allow into our hearts. They ask us to trust that we are being led somewhere better than fear driven living. And when we do that, even imperfectly, something begins to settle within us. A quieter strength. A deeper breath. A sense that maybe joy was never gone, just waiting for us to return to it.
Prayer
Guiding Shepherd, help me pay attention to what is shaping my heart. Give me the courage to turn away from what diminishes life and the grace to choose peace and joy again today. Amen.