In a world of "What If's"

This morning as we were about to leave for church, my husband tells me he found a tick on the carpet this morning...nice. We do have a dog so my assumption is he brought it in from the woods. Gross. As we got in the car and headed to church, I started becoming more concerned about the fact that a tick was INSIDE my house where my kids play. I turned to my husband and said "What if that tick were to get on one of us and we got some sort of disease!!" In his most sweetest and sincere voice my husband replied "honey, we don't live in a world of 'what if's'. Profound? Yes. Simple? Not hardly. I began to think more about that statement. When he said "we" did he mean me? I am certainly the worry wart of the family. I have to say I have improved tremendously over the years but there are still times when I live in fear of the unknown and am shaken easily by things that derail my well planned day.

 As I sat through church I couldn't stop thinking about that statement. It certainly struck a cord with me and the longer I sat and thought about it, the more my heart began to ache with conviction about my own state of peace. One of the scriptures used in the sermon this morning was Isaiah 9:6, coincidentally the same verse I chose for our family Christmas cards this year. It reads, "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Prince of Peace. I quickly looked up the Hebrew word for Peace, Shalom. It is used over 230 times in the Bible. Hmmm....so what does that mean? I read further and noticed how that word was used throughout the Bible. Completeness, wholeness, safety, soundness, health, contentment, friendship with others, covenant relationship with God, peace from war.

Was my life missing any of these things? If yes, then my life was missing peace. Peace that came from a loving God in Heaven through a son he brought to earth in the form of a baby, a living, breathing, piece of God here on earth for us. Ironic as it sounds, during the Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of this baby: God in the flesh, Prince of Peace, we seem to get stressed and anxious about the things that would otherwise be non-existent if we received the peace that He has brought us.

I was instantly brought to tears as I sat in the pew and examined my heart and saw that I was that person. The one who asked, "What if?", the one who constantly worried about finances, the health and safety of my children, making friends, our government leaders, the economy. I am certainly one to make wise choices about these things, but I also understand that the ultimate result is out of my hands. Peace is not a choice we make. It is not something we get up daily and say "today I am going to have peace about .....". It doesn't work that way. This type of peace is not a prescriptive for the holidays or daily living. It comes ONLY as a result of a broken spirit, in desperate need of a savior, groping to find Him daily by being a student of his Word. Thank you God that it is as simple as that. Adding "find peace" to my already long list of things to do today would just stress me out.