So often I find myself striving for a future happiness or peace.

Why do I overlook being happy or having peace right now? Today. In the moment.

“Years ago, a major art gallery sponsored a competition for painters and they were offering prizes for the best painting on the subject of “Peace.” The painting that won was a real surprise. The scene was the ocean in a violent storm. The sky was ominous, the lightning was cutting across the sky, and the waves were crashing into the rock walls of the cliffs by the shore. Where was the peace? You had to look twice to understand what was going on. There, about halfway up the cliff, was a birds’ nest tucked into a tiny hollow in the rock. A mother bird was sitting on that nest with her little babies tucked underneath her, sleeping soundly. That was peace!

Peace is not just the absence of a storm, but rest in the middle of the storm. Many of us could use that kind of peace right now, and it is the kind of peace that you can have right now if you’re resting where you ought to be.”

This story reminds me of what my brother in Christ, J.D. Smith, once told me, “When I rest in the finished work that He accomplished for me I seem to enjoy life. While I’m resting the devil works hard to get me back in the ring to fight him and he is already defeated. Jesus loves us more than our willingness to be loved. The hardest part for me was to let Jesus die for me. Let him carry me. Like the lost sheep!! What part did that sheep play in getting saved but to allow itself to be carried.”

It all comes down to trusting God.

Israel wandered in the wilderness for way too long trying to get to their destination, their hope. What if they would have stopped bickering, remembered what God had already done for them, and were content wherever they were. Would they have acquired the same level of peace and prosperity they expected to receive in the Promised Land right then and there?

I’m always striving for a future happiness or peace. I can be experiencing these things now – I don’t have to wait. May I begin to trust God in the moment – right now. May I experience the “peace the passes (goes beyond) my understanding” today by trusting the Lord.

Be anxious about nothing.

Pray about everything.

Give thanks for anything.

Philippians 4:6