Quiet your Spirit in a World of Chaos

How can you quiet your spirit in a world of chaos?

• A) have a stroke,
• B) figure out something else. 

Okay, I realize my stroke didn’t quiet my spirit, but it led me to a crossroads of sorts. It is common to find people who had a stroke in a state of distress, in a state of chaos. That makes sense. I have also met people, like me, who had a stroke living in a state of peace. I guess that makes sense as well. The way you were traveling is no longer an option and you’re sitting at a crossroad. One way leads to chaos, the other leads to peace. You can’t just cruise on by, you have to make a turn. 

Turning to peace. Man, it’s good advice. The problem is can you even do that? Seems to me in the chaos of a stroke, the path you’re starting out on was somehow already decided. I didn’t “choose” peace, I didn’t choose anything, but somehow peace appears. To this day, the gift of peace that was given to me still blows me away. That peace that came after my stroke. 

So who decided which path I was standing on when I woke up the morning after my stroke? Did God do that? It was sort of a miracle that I woke up in a state of peace, It was sort of a miracle that I woke up at all.

Maybe you did? While I was just lying there, not choosing anything, hundreds of you petitioned God on my behalf.  In ways we can’t understand, prayer is a powerful thing.

Maybe I did? Not in the aftermath of a stroke, but years earlier when I was starting on the foundation for my life. Part of my worldview was this abstract idea of peace, maybe it lay dormant until I desperately needed it? 

I don’t know, but I’m thinking “all of the above.” is the right answer. Somehow through my stroke a door to peace appeared, it opened a door to the Prince of Peace.

It opened a door between the chaotic material world we live in, a world we know so well and the spiritual world we are actually immersed in, a world we can’t see or understand. That “door” became real to me when I experienced it in a tangible way, I guess as tangible as it could be when you’re dealing with something spiritual anyways. 

After getting out of the hospital I knew I had to go to church. I realized I wouldn’t understand the words that were spoken. I just knew I had to be there.  And while I was sitting there something happened in my spirit. There are no words to adequately express what happened in my spirit.  Although I couldn’t comprehend what was going on, I knew how it felt. I felt free, I felt loved, I felt peace.

For a couple of minutes I was led to a place of utter peace.  And while I was there I was told, not told, maybe better I sensed (it is hard to describe but what was communicated happened not in my mind, but in my spirit) but somehow, I sensed that everything will be okay. At the same time I was told/sensed, it’s not about your earthly material body, it’s not about whether or not you have another stroke. Maybe you will have another stroke today. It just didn’t matter, that was so much peace and I knew everything would be okay. As I think about it, I think I had a glimpse into heaven.  

What I experienced that day, to experience peace in a place of peace with the Prince of Peace was remarkable. I wanted to live there. Someday I will. But until then, I’m stuck in the chaotic world I live in. Peace, I think, is more important in the chaotic world than in the world that is to come. There it is common, like the air we breathe. Here it is rare. To experience Peace in the  chaotic world is so valuable.  

That’s what happened to me, somehow I landed on option A.  The only problem with option A, well, there are some massive side effects 🙂.

I want to talk about option B) figure out something else. The bible recommends another way to experience peace. 

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.   Phl 4:6-7

You can experience God’s peace, with or without having a stroke. He offers us peace that surpasses all understanding. He offers us His peace which will guard your hearts and minds. Have you ever thought about these words, heart and mind? He’s talking about your spiritual world (heart) and your material world (mind). Peace in your heart, peace in your mind. Peace that is spiritual, and can be sensed, and peace that is tangible and is real in the chaotic world we live in. 

Often we think peace comes from our circumstances. We long to live in a peaceful world, no war, no conflict, no cancer, no wildfires, no hurricanes, no hunger, no strokes. I mean, the middle class American life I grew up in was generally peaceful. Well, until it was not. That kind of peace is so fragile. God offers us a different kind of peace, it happens in your heart, it happens in our minds. Peace that goes with you has your circumstances change, sometimes drastically. 

As I think back to that experience, I realize what was communicated in my heart was not about the circumstances in my life, the “everything will be ok” was about the peace of God walking with me through whatever comes.

Whatever comes. Man, whatever comes. I’m hoping “whatever comes” is a peaceful slice of my material world pie. More likely, as the chaotic world beckons, something else will happen. But, whatever comes, peace is available. Peace that exceeds anything we can understand, peace that can guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

There are two stained glass windows pictured here. One is sort of a generic prayer, “God bless this home”. Suzanne and I worked on it together before we were married and before we owned a home. As I recall, Suzanne and I cut the glass and it laid there in the stained glass studio in my folks house where my cousin Neil Stern and I made stained glass windows. It laid there for a while as our life became busy. So Neil decided to assemble it as a gift. If you look carefully, as life rolled on you can see the circumstances changed to the window as well.  Hmm, whatever comes. 

The other one came from my abstract notion of peace. For a couple decades it lived in the kitchen window of my inlaws, Suzanne’s folks. Recently her father moved into our house and the stained glass window came along. Now it resides on my office window. (Maybe it lay dormant until I desperately needed it?) My prayer has become, God bless this home with peace, not in an abstract generic kind of way, but in a concrete kind of way. Somehow the abstract idea of peace became real to me. And I pray His peace is real for you as well.