Well, the summer is as good as over – school is starting back up, vacations are wrapped up, and it’s time to get back into the rhythms of the “normal”. 

How does this transition of seasons sit with you? Are you refreshed? Excited? Nervous? Anxious?

When you look at the news headlines and see the fights over vaccine status, mask mandates, new cases on the rise, possible new shutdowns, how do the transitions sit with you? Are you nervous? Anxious? (I doubt you find this all refreshing, but if you do, I’d love to meet up over coffee and hear your perspective!)

 

I wonder if your summer was like mine:

Thanks to things opening back up, I found myself on beaches, in baseball stadiums, in airplanes, restaurants, shopping centers – and every single one of them was wonderfully crowded. 

After a long season of holding our breath, it seems like humanity took one massive breath in, inhaling everything it could over the summer months.

Some would call it “recreation bingeing” – trying to catch up on all the fun lost, taking in as much as possible.

It’s a natural byproduct of our past year.

  

So, after our binge sessions over the summer, how do we feel? Refreshed? Excited? Nervous? Anxious?

Did those activities do the trick, or do you still feel restless inside?

It’s worth taking a look inside: what are our hearts running after when we fill them with the fun stuff? 

Escape? Connection? Or maybe: Peace?

Can I make the argument, just for a minute, that that last item, Peace, is at the root of it all?

If we have peace, we don’t feel the need to escape. Or, we travel to someplace where we can just relax, leave our worries behind, and be at peace.

If we have peace, we often approach our relationships the same way, and the striving for feeling connected lessens in its intensity, allowing us to be more connected. And when feel connected with others, it brings us peace.

  

When I look around, I see a world that is anywhere but at peace.

  

The division narrative is a bit overplayed, but I believe it’s because it’s real. I’ve never seen our country and our humanity so divided. I watch CNN and Fox News side by side at the gym, and both networks are reporting the same story but with completely opposite narratives – it’s no wonder we can’t find common ground these days. When truth is elusive, people are left confused and then resort to their opinions/convictions because they can’t trust the narratives – and this goes for both sides…

  

So where do we go to find peace?

Isn’t that what our hearts are after anyways?

  

Peace means we aren’t terrified about getting sick and possibly dying.

Peace means we give our leaders grace, trusting that they are doing the best job that they know how to do – even if it’s imperfect – because no one gets it perfectly right every single time.

Peace means we find common ground with each other and celebrate our similarities as well as our differences.

  

Where do we go to find peace?

Did the vacation do the trick?

Did the backyard barbecues with friends do the trick? 

Did the baseball games do the trick?

Or did those moments fade away with the turn of the calendar?

 

When those fail to bring me the peace I hope for, I’ve found the following to be immeasurably helpful:

  

My mornings don’t start with the news. They don’t start with email, text messages, stock reports – they start with God.

Before I check any of these things, I stumble into the kitchen, I make coffee, and I read my Bible, sip my coffee, and invite God into my day through prayer.

Because we are so deeply influenced by the input we receive, I make a concerted effort to let that input be from the Source of ultimate peace.

 

I limit my news intake. For real. Do this for a week and see how your blood pressure responds. I know – you might miss out on the breaking news, but seriously – you have friends, they will tell you the story, and you can hear the summary then. You don’t need to be glued to your phone, your tv, that website – I keep my news intake at less than 15 minutes per day. Get in, get out – get the basics, the important stuff, and then that’s it. 

Try it.  

Consider it a challenge.

 

I limit my social media intake. Ask yourself: how much peace do I feel after scrolling through my social media? Or do I feel jealous, angry, lonely, left out? There are days (sometimes weeks!) that go by where I don’t check my social media. It is so dang freeing I can’t even tell you.

Try it. 

Consider it a challenge.

  

I am trying to incorporate more moments of silence into my day. There is a ton of research out there that would validate this, but it’s all about being able to turn the noise off for periods of time, and to just let your soul breathe. It’s life-giving. And the opposite is true: all of the constant stimuli/input is soul-sucking. 

Incorporate more moments of intentional silence in your day. It might feel weird at first, but trust me; I think you’ll find it life-giving as well.

 

Notice a theme here?

Limit your input.

Start your day by centering yourself in the God who created silence for our benefit, and let your peace flow from his steadfastness. 

How do you do that?

It starts with taking inventory on the amount of input we’re barraged with each day, and then taking proactive steps to lean in to what’s permanent, to the God who is peace, and to remind ourselves of his love.

And if you’re new to the Bible thing, just dust off that old copy, flip to the book of John and read a few paragraphs, or even a full chapter, every day. Or heck – download an app (the Bible App and Sandals Church App are both fantastic places to start) and do one of their pre-made Bible reading plans.

It might require 10-15 minutes of your morning, but I would offer that it would pay major dividends in your day.

 

Try it.

Consider it a challenge.