Open to Him; Open to Peace
Today is a special day for me in my grief journey. Today would have been my mom’s 61st birthday. As I prepared writing personal reflections for my own social media post, I began to be reminded that grief has continually caused me to forget things or caused time to pass differently. As I struggled to recall how many birthdays of my mom’s I have celebrated without her, I came to the correct answer (this makes the third) only by looking back at posts from former years. This is not the first time I have noticed my memory being different, but it is always a hard pill to swallow. I was also reminded of this recently when my friends and I were playing a game that we had played in October and I couldn’t remember how to play it (at all). It is times like these where I feel embarrassed and isolated in my grief and often do not feel comfortable enough expressing that, so I am doing it here, hoping that this resonates with someone that will be reading it.
Several years ago, my mom gifted me a set of Scripture cards that are the size of business cards and come in a holder for a desktop. Since her passing, I keep them in my bathroom and read them for encouragement while I’m getting ready in the morning. I keep it on one card until I have the card memorized or have gotten used to it and then I put that verse on the bottom of the stack and begin the next card. The card that has been displayed recently has been 2 Thessalonians 3:16, which says this:
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times, in all ways. The Lord be with you all.”
In context, Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica and asking God to give them peace as they face trials and persecution. Reading this today, as a member of the family of God and the Church, grief could be considered one of our individual trials. The impact of grief can cause so many things that disrupt peace; anxiety, sad thoughts, feelings of being overwhelmed, and more.
No matter where we are in our journeys, our hope can be found in knowing we know the author of peace. We know He is able to give peace, but how often do we neglect to ask for it or put ourselves in a situation not to receive it? It is my encouragement to myself and to you this week to press on in our journeys and strive to be more available to the peace He has to offer. Slow down, breathe, read His word, talk to Him, talk about Him, and do not be embarrassed when grief decides to make itself more known, whether it is by forgetfulness, overwhelming emotions, or more. Ultimately, He is in control and wants us to run to Him. He has all the peace we could need; we simply need to be open to Him; open to peace.
