“All of this will be forgotten, and we will be drinking tea under the trees in a month’s time” – I say to my mother.
My Mother responds with “According to you, all we are going to be doing is drinking tea under the trees – rain, hail or sunshine!”
Yes – you guessed it – Granny’s flatlet is finally 99.98% complete and the removal trucks arrive tomorrow (along with Granny). I hear many of you reading this chuckling, groaning and even grinning, giving me that raised eyebrow-look that says “you, your Mum and your family need hair on your teeth!” Building, renovations and downsizing are concepts with which many of you are all too familiar! You are 100% correct – this move should come with a warning – dangerous to your health, your peace and family relationships. 😊
Life is complex – there are lots of moving parts. Situations change, relationships change, and pieces move out of alignment or go missing. Just as you think you have reached a place of peace – something or someone moves – causing stress, worry, doubt and even fear.
And that is OK – provided that we don’t “live there”- as long as we remind ourselves that “this too shall pass”. It is temporary. This is the time during which we are reminded to pause and pray. Michelle preached (MANY years ago) about exactly this. She coined the phrase P&P – it has stuck with me. It is in these times of stress and worry that we should remind ourselves of Gods promises to us. Seek them out and spend time in prayer. God does not want us to spend our lives in a state of worry and stress. Pause & Pray.
As reminded by one of my daily reading apps this week – Pray – “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” – 1 Peter 5:7
During this chapter in my life – I created in my mind an image of my Mum and I sipping tea under the tree in the back garden – in my Mums perfectly preserved best bone-china. I have a vision of what the end state is – and I have repeated that verbally – to keep myself focused on the end state. I close my eyes and imagine the warm sunshine, the shade of the tree, the slight cool breeze, the pot of tea and shortbread biscuits in a pretty plate. It is what is carrying me through the exhaustion and frustration of the painful moving process.
Trusting God is not easy – it is a lifelong pursuit. God promises us peace. Peace, in Hebrew is Shalom. Peace/a state of Shalom – is used to describe not merely an absence of conflict, but it promises the presence of something better – a state of completeness. I recently read of this being compared to a stone wall – with no fault in the stones, no missing bricks/gaps. The brick wall could represent our well-being. Our well-being in relationships, work and in life in general. In reality, “life happens” and the stone wall can be broken or even partially destroyed by the elements and people who surround it.
It is in these times when the external elements/someone destroys our perfect stone wall – our state of Shalom – that we trust in our rock – God.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”
Isaiah 26:3-4
God is our rock. God promises us “perfect peace”. Those who experience this are those whose mind is stayed (focused) on God. I interpret this to mean that we should imagine the “tea under the tree”- we must trust in God’s word and believe it to be true. We cannot experience the peace God promises to us if we are always in a stressed or worried state. When our state of peace is attacked – and it WILL be – we can only remind ourselves that this season will pass. Place trust in Gods promise to lead you to a place of peace.
Where do you see your perfect peace today?
Pause and pray.
…and I will put the kettle on. 😊
May you have a blessed week!
Vanessa