There is a story of a king who offered a prize for the best painting of peace. I may have told this tale before. Thousands entered and there were paintings of sunsets, of beautiful summers days, of rivers lazily winding their way between trees, of mirror like lakes with perfect reflections, of the night sky – all scenes that looked peaceful. The final picture was different. It showed bare mountains with a stormy sky with lightening, and on the mountain side a roaring waterfall and some hardy trees. It didn’t look peaceful. But the king looked closer then declared this picture the winner. When asked, he pointed to one of the branches near the waterfall. Sitting snuggly in a nest on the branch was a bird, perfectly at peace. True peace is not a perfect scene – that sort of peace doesn’t last long.
True peace is being able to find calm amidst the raging waters and rumbling thunder. If we are waiting for that idyllic setting to gain peace we will be waiting a long time. God never promises no troubles.
A few weeks ago I was sitting quietly before a morning service. Outside there was a storm and you could hear the wind howling, almost like it was trying to take the roof off. But inside, protected by the stone walls, there was an oasis of tranquility. Just for a moment, as the storm raged around, I could sit quietly and focus on something else (at this point, praying). Peace isn’t the absence of the storm, but a focus on God while the storm rages around.
There’s a story of Jesus and his disciples. The disciples are sailing across the lake when a storm starts up. As they sail through the storm, they spot a figure coming through the rain. At first they don’t recognise him and think it’s a ghost (they are in the middle of a lake after all!) But then they realise its Jesus, walking on the waves. Peter calls out to him, “If it is truly you, call to me to get out of the boat and walk to you.”
Jesus says, “Come.”
So Peter gets out of the boat and with his eyes firmly fixed on Jesus he begins to walk on the water. But then he hears the wind and notices the waves and he begins to sink. His moment of calm is gone and the storm takes over.
How often has that been the same for us? Maybe not a literal storm, and probably not walking on water, but maybe there’s a lot going on pulling our mind in different directions and threatening to overwhelm us. If we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, if we find that oasis of tranquility in it all, we won’t start to drown. But if we let the wind distract us, the worries, the stresses, the deadlines, then it is possible we will sink beneath the waves of expectation and anxiety.
The thing to note in this story is that Jesus immediately reaches out and stops Peter from drowning and helps him back to the boat. If you do find yourself distracted by the storm then you need to know that Jesus is close enough to reach out and help you.
But maybe we need to practice finding peace, discovering that oasis of tranquility as we live our lives. Maybe, we need to practice keeping our eyes on Jesus.
The Reason for my Hope Blog 