Chaos or Peace?

Do you ever lay awake at night with your mind racing at 100 miles per hour thinking of all the things you need to say or do to those you are in conflict with?  Come on, be honest!  There’s the constant rehearsing within the mind of the conflict which occurred over the previous hours or days and how it should have been dealt with.  Next time I’ll say “…(whatever you think)…” or “I won’t let them get away with it next time”.  You know the scenario I’m talking about.  We have nothing even close to peace going on in us during such a time.  Well, there’s nothing like peace to relieve the stress of life. 

The dove is the symbol for peace and I’ve heard it said that a dove will not rest where there is tension or chaos.  You’ve surely heard the phrase “gentle as a dove” and so it is with peace – it is gentle.  When we are at peace within ourselves all is well with the world.  There’s no tension or stress in our environment and calm settles over us.  This is a wonderful state to be in and one worth striving to achieve daily.  Walking in peace creates positive energy which allows us to accomplish good things.

Many people believe that the absence of war brings peace, which in one sense it does.  However, there’s no guarantee the absence of war will be peaceful.  When there’s conflict there is no peace, whether it is between nations or individuals.  The same can be said of tension.  When there is tension there’s agitation, whether acted out or kept bottled up, for there comes the point where relief must happen, resulting in an eruption or some physical, debilitating malady.

There are times when you come from a peaceful environment and find yourself in the middle of chaos or stress unexpectedly.  Usually when this occurs it is instantaneous rather than a gradual transition, which can prove to be rather jarring to our system.  Then there’s the situation while in a peaceful state we anticipate the pending tension awaiting us, making for a more gradual transition while experiencing oncoming dread.  What can we do about this?

This is not an easy matter to deal with due to the conflicting emotions occurring simultaneously.  Often self-talk is engaged, stating in our mind the things we will say or action to be taken when confronted with the pending conflict.  Such a plight we have to face, as we really do not want the stress, especially when we have been enjoying peace.  Can this truly be overcome?  Yes, it can but it doesn’t come easy.

When we live in an environment where tension resides it becomes quite difficult to relieve the tension when others are involved, aiding in the creation of the tension.  When you become aware of your own contribution to the stress you can take action to help relieve it, but it does require the resolve to do so.  I’m not in a position to advise how you should go about doing that in your situation, as all cases have different dynamics to be dealt with.  For me it’s a matter of recognizing that adjusting my own actions/reactions, along with adjusting attitudes, I experience less tension.  Wow, is that all there is to it?  Well, prayer doesn’t hurt either.

In my case I do pray for help with changing the things I must and then put positive energy to the task at hand.  Also I remember the words of Jesus who said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  (John 14:27)

I’m beginning to see the doves circling in closer now.  Soon they’ll be coming to rest.  Have you been seeing doves lately?  Shalom