Walking the path

(2-minute read)

I used to think of peace as a passing feeling, like happiness or sadness. One day my eyes were opened. I bought a Christian magazine from the bookstore to read the cover article. Whenever I went over to pick up the magazine at home to read it, I would feel uneasy and just leave it, thinking I would read it later. One day when I was in the room, I felt anxious and realized I was standing next to the magazine. I didn’t know why any magazine would disturb me like that, but I picked it up and took it outside to the trash. It wasn’t worth the hassle.

I asked the Lord to show me if anything else in our home was disturbing like that. I walked through our house and then got the same uneasy feeling in our dining room when I was near a vase that was the centerpiece. This wasn’t cheap like the magazine; it was more of a luxury buy. We had purchased the vase from a Christian bookstore, and I saw nothing wrong with it. When my wife got home, I told her about the magazine and the vase. I don’t think she had any unusual feelings about the vase, and I could come up with no logical reason for the issue. She was willing to get rid of it if I thought it disturbed me. (My wife is a saint)

At the time, we were having two home meetings a week. On the first night people came after getting rid of the two suspect items, almost everyone remarked as they came in about how peaceful the house was. I don’t remember anyone ever saying that before. To this day, it’s common for first-time guests to comment about how peaceful our home is.

Even beyond objects in the home, sometimes, when making decisions, I feel peace about a particular course of action. That doesn’t mean I will always enjoy the path that is best for me. He tells us in scripture that he’s going to take us places we don’t necessarily want to go. I’m not as spiritual as David; I might have written one verse differently. My verse might go Yea, though I’m leaving marks in the dirt as I’m being dragged down into the valley where I think I’m going to die, I may as well stay calm because God is at peace knowing he’s got this: for he has a tight hold on me, and he’s loaded for bear.