What is the #1 question you are hearing right now?
“What do you want for Christmas?” or “What are you doing for the holidays?”
I read an article several years ago that stated that the #1 thing most people want is “peace of mind”.
In a world where we can click on our devices to visit Amazon and receive anything we want the next day, “peace of mind” is not an item that can be found in any shopping cart.
Several years ago, my father and I were having a conversation about Christmas gifts. I asked him what he wanted for Christmas. His response, “peace of mind”. So, I was on the hunt for the perfect gift for him. While out on an early morning walk on our family farm, I noticed a beautiful flat rock that called me to pick it up. I brought it back to the house and washed and dried it in the sun. Then I proceeded to grab a black sharpie and write the words “peace of mind” on it. I grabbed a gift box and carefully wrapped it as if I had just left Tiffany’s. On Christmas Day, I could barely wait for my Daddy to open his special gift. For the man who has everything, it was perfect. The look on his face was priceless and proceeded to share with everyone that he had received the perfect gift. To this day, he keeps that rock on his desk.
During this Christmas season, are you looking for the perfect gift or for a new memory to nourish your soul? Peace of Mind is not a place, it a state of being. It takes being intentional to become calm in the midst of life’s storms. In our church service each week, we have moment to “pass the peace”. The peace of Christ that is . . . Once we stand up and start moving around the sanctuary, joy fills the atmosphere. How do you give away what you don’t have? You don’t. So with that realization, it is our mission to fill our hearts and minds with thoughts that are lovely, kind, patient, forgiving, joyful, good, faithful, gentle and full of self-control. It is the fruit of the spirit spoken of in Galatians 6:9. When we fill our lamp stands with oil, then the world becomes a more beautiful, peaceful place to live. There is no such thing as darkness; it is only the absence of light. Intentionally living and filling the mind with the fruit of the spirit will lead to a peace that passes all understanding.
You know, that “peace of mind” everyone wants for Christmas?
Until next Friday . . .
