Peace, Balance, and Other Pipedreams

On behalf of myself and others, I have prayed for peace more times than I can count.  Peace in the midst of trials; peace about a decision made; peace for the haggard mind.   I wonder why peace is the hand that holds me one moment, and the kite string that slips through my fingers the next.

If I decide to be at peace with a situation, wham! a torrent of discontent washes through me. Peace is not a perpetual rain, it is an oasis in the desert, where you splash your face and drink before it evaporates in the heat.  

Christ said, "Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give to you, not at the world gives, but as a friend." 
 -John 14:27

What does He mean?

I think He means that we are travelers passing through this awkward world, and what we need more than anything is a friend.  The world says peace is a lack of interior conflict.  Christ implies that peace is a Friend who reminds you that heaven alone is the absence of conflict.  

This all wraps around to an odd truth, which dawned on me while driving home yesterday listening to Andrew Peterson's new CD.  Peace comes from accepting there is no peace...here, yet.

Balance is as elusive as peace.  That earth tilts on its axis is no coincidence; it is one of a million natural word pictures operating as a metaphor for life on earth.  

We, as eternal beings, were never meant to find balance and peace in the confines of time.  We long for more time, so that everything that we value can receive our attention, but the hourglass, the pendulum clock, the sun dialing across the sky...they are all unforgiving.  

So I splash my face and call it one day closer to peace.