Day 15 - Issue 26
Colossians 3:15 NLT
'And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.'
Peace is defined as “a freedom from disturbance”. When we moved St Cuthbert’s Oratory from the city of Portsmouth to a large village outside Romsey, we immediately lost the disturbance created by noise. Actually, I quite missed the ‘buzz’, having lived in an urban setting for most of my adult life. But now I have come to love the stillness to which I awake each morning. However, the more unsettling ‘disturbance’ is experienced within the human heart.
For many of us, life is made difficult as much by the feelings we experience as by the external circumstances we have to navigate. Paul reminds us that we are to look to Christ for the peace that enables us to live with external pressure and the internal anxiety it generates. Our anxiety is usually caused as we worry about aspects of life that lie beyond our control.
A useful way of looking at life is to apply the TOP principle. This invites me to look at my situation and identify what is Totally within my control, what lies Outside my control and what is Partially in my control. Most of us spend our time seeking to resolve, usually within our heads, things that lie outside our control. This is wasted energy and effort for the simple reason we don’t have the authority to affect them, no matter how much we worry. Better to be thankful that we can carry these things and name them before God and know that our future lies within God’s hands. I now apply the TOP principle, act on what is in my control, totally or partially, and then present that and what’s outside my control to God in prayer, grateful I can leave it with him. My emotions may take a while to catch up, yet I quell the inner disturbance and find the promised peace of God and give thanks.
QUESTION: Will you let God know the source of your anxiety and own your very real fears? Then give God what lies outside of your control and request God’s peace with thanks.
PRAYER: Lord, give me the wisdom to discern what I can act upon and what I must leave in your care, grateful that you are always present.
