My daughter and I met up to nail down our supplies and food list for Payton’s annual-birthday-celebratory fishing trip next week. Always his birthday request! Meeting at their courtyard was the perfect place. You can see by Emma\u2019s peaceful demeanor, it is definitely a peace zone. That is \u2013 until another dog strolls by and, she thinks she\u2019s a hundred-pound Doberman by the way she\u2019s ready to take that dog out. It’s hilarious because, at her ripe age, she has very few teeth left. It is definitely her bark \u2013 not her bite that guards their home!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, this morning, Emma isn\u2019t distracted by anything outside of her domain. She\u2019s at peace. And with that, Staci and I strike up a conversation about less striving, less hustle, less hassle and more living in that place of peace that only comes from a deep, intimate relationship with the Prince of Peace. Emma must know Him intimately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t we desire that more than anything? That simply flowing, abiding and living in the peace that Jesus lived in when He walked this earth. I mentioned it before and I urge you again to watch \u201cThe Chosen\u201d series. Throughout the series you see Jesus meandering along \u2013 intentional and purposeful \u2013 yet unhurried, not filled with anxiety or trepidatious about what is about to happen, but always on the look-out to strike up a conversation, to bring understanding and peace to matters of strife, to calm troubled waters \u2013 both naturally and in the people He encountered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scripture that comes to mind is from Luke 4, the passage where people became so angry at Jesus, as He taught in their synagogue, that they tried to push Him off a cliff. But in verse 30, it says \u201cHe walked away\u201d. I love that. He walked away from the chaos to get into His peace zone. I purpose to live in that peace zone too. When I choose that peace and something comes up that unsettles me, then I walk away too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, in the matters of life, as long as I fix my thoughts on my Prince of Peace, I’m stable and at peace. I know the world’s peace depends on calm seas, favorable circumstances, getting our way, things going as expected, with very few challenges. That sounds comfy, but as soon as our “apple cart gets turned over”, the peace of the world dissipates and we are left with anxiety and concern. The peace I know well is the peace Jesus gives. That peace helps me face circumstances with a quiet confidence that guides me — not contingent on what’s going on around me, but what’s inside me — better yet, WHO’S inside me. Jesus said, “Peace, I give you — my peace I give you — not as the world gives I you! Let not your heart be troubled.” John 14:27<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My daughter and I met up to nail down our supplies and food list for Payton’s annual-birthday-celebratory fishing trip next week. Always his birthday request! Meeting at their courtyard was the perfect place. You can see by Emma\u2019s peaceful demeanor, it is definitely a peace zone. That is \u2013 until another dog strolls by and,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17411,17412,14103],"tags":[17405,156,1210,4919,1769,17406,40,1012,17407,17409,17410,17408,44,5968,5114,15533,15321],"class_list":["post-12474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-he-walked-away","category-john-1427","category-peace-zone","tag-at-peace","tag-birthday","tag-blog","tag-calm","tag-christian","tag-heart-troubled","tag-inspiration","tag-john-1427","tag-less-hassle","tag-less-hustle","tag-less-striving","tag-luke-4","tag-peace","tag-peace-zone","tag-prince-of-peace","tag-strife","tag-walked-away"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12476,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12474\/revisions\/12476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}