Time for Peace

Like many Americans I expected my workload to slow down at this time, but the work keeps coming. It’s great to work, but I find it a bit unsettling because I had mentally prepared myself for downtime. Instead of downtime, I find myself rushing.

Perhaps you’re like me and prepared for and expected a slowdown, but instead you got extra work. Maybe you are finding yourself stuck home with nothing to do while the kids run around the house going crazy. Either way, we all need to find a time for peace these days. Praise God! He provides the answer in the season of spring.

Like so many others my day starts with a jump. As a blogger and photographer with a ministry, I begin the day with giving attention to my blog. I squeeze in a small breakfast while working on the blog before hopping on my treadmill to get in a workout. After my workout, I know what lies ahead, a stressful day at work. But before heading for work, I need to make time for peace.

With spring now upon us, I like to grab my Bible and head to our back deck to spend a few moments with God. One recent morning a fog set a gentle stage. I sat down and began to pray while I heard the birds create the sounds of spring. The songs they sang played as music to my ears and their sweet melodies brought my heart into a time and place for peace.

The birds call to each other through their songs. Some call looking for mates and some call to defend a new-found home in the trees. A male cardinal sings his song to his bride. His song and his mate’s response echo words from the Song of Solomon 2:10-11a, “My beloved calls to me, ‘Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one. For now the winter is past …’”

While he calls to her, God calls to me and romances my heart with the sounds of nature. God uses nature to call all of us. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made. (NASB)”

The sights and sounds of nature remind our hearts of a time long ago and of a place called Eden. We all long for Eden and nature reminds us of that paradise lost. Song of Solomon chapter 2 is not about a bird calling to his mate or even a man calling to his bride, it’s about God calling to us. And He uses things like prayer, His Word, and nature to call to us. He wants us as His own.

When we make time for peace in our day, we make time to connect with God. When we connect with God He speaks to us. As He speaks we draw closer to him and He gives us rest from the anxiety that may be weighing on us.

Make a time for peace in this season of spring. Sit in the stillness of the morning and hear the sounds of spring (even through an open window).  Listen to God as He calls to you. Hear Him in the sounds of the nature, hear Him through time in prayer and hear Him through reading the Bible. Connect with Him. He wants you as His own. He calls us to Eden and to a time for peace.