Life is busy. The kids are noisy. The world is chaotic. With everything that goes on daily our minds can become overwhelmed with constant thoughts that only add to the level of stress that we are already carrying. We keep getting up day after day, keep moving one foot in front of another. We continue to do the daily functioning that has become our norm, all while forgetting to keep our inner peace in balance. So, eventually we start getting frustrated at things that use to not bother us, we lose patience with the kiddos or the co-workers. We toss and turn at night, unable to get good rest and find ourselves being irritated by our spouse or partner just because they ask us a question in the morning. We notice that our body seems tight, almost like a rubber band that is being tugged on. But we brush it off as it’s just what comes along with living life and continue day after day dealing with the same things.

But that is not what God intends for us to have to endure throughout our entire life. And it is not a healthly way of being. We have to make sure that we make the time for ourselves to be able to release all the stress and tension that life brings. We have to make the time to enjoy something. We have to do whatever it is that helps us to free ourselves of the tension that builds up within us. And we have to maintain the peace in our hearts. Because when we don’t have peace in our heart it affects every part of us. And that has an effect on our family, our friends, our work, and our spiritual being. Everything else becomes out of balance when we lose our peace. And nothing can be balanced out until we regain it.

There are thousands of things that can steal our peace if we allow it to. Often times we unknowingly give our peace away because we don’t make it a priority. It has to be a priority to us if we are going to be diligent about maintaining it and not allowing anything to disrupt it. Keeping that inner calmness is the only way that we will be able to conquer life instead of it conquering us. I believe that the Bible clearly shows how important inner peace is simply by the way that the apostles always greeted people by saying, “may peace be with you.”

I am currently sitting outside in the dark at 2am and listening to the water running in the stream beside the cabin that I am staying in. As I have been sitting here I have been thinking about peace and how it plays such an important role in our lives. I have been thinking about my own peace and how I have neglected it and how it has affected my entire way of being. I have been getting frustrated with others quickly, losing my patience more quickly, not sleeping well, and always have this uneasiness feeling within me. I have felt a lingering anger within me for no reason and had lost desire to do anything that wasnt a responsibility or had to be done.

Just being out here in the quietness and listening the water run down the rocks in the small creek has helped me to relax and be able to let go of a lot of built up emotions that i had been pressing down for some time now. And I didn’t even realize that I had been doing it. I can feel a lightness to my heart, a feeling of peace filling me once again. I hadn’t taken the time to check in with myself and explore what was really going on in my heart for a long time. Therefore I didn’t even realize how out of balance I was. But thanks be to God I now know and I have been able to bring back my peace. Now I have to make sure that I take the time to keep it and maintain balance so that I can continue to be the best version of myself.

I encourage you to take the time to explore your inner being and check your level of peace often. Make sure you take the time to keep your peace level to the max. You can not be your best to others if you are not functioning at your best level. And life will be much less enjoyable if you don’t maintain your peace. But when we have peace we can conquer anything that life throws our way with a smile on our face and joy in our heart. So make sure that you take the time to have at least a weekly check in with yourself. Pray that God show you anything that you have stuffed down within yourself that needs to be released. Ask the Holy Spirit to assist you in letting go all things that could affect your peace and to guard your heart to be able to maintain it at all times. Make sure you take the time to let lose and enjoy yourself. Ad always remember that your peace can only be taken from you if you willingly give it away. You can have control of your peace at all times and refuse to let anyone or anything disrupt it.

It is always my hope that I am speaking words of truth, encouragement, hope, and inspiration that someone needs at the time when I write a post. I pray that the Holy Spirit use these words to speak life and love into your heart. Blessings to all.