“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace
to those on whom his favor rests”
Luke 2:14
When
I began to think about what to reflect on this year, I was reminded of a wish
for peace. Peace in the world. Peace in the community. Peace in the family.
Peace in the heart.
For many of us, this is a season of joy. A time to travel from near and
far to be together with those we love. A time of family and friends, cooking and
feasting, laughter and good things. Sometimes though, bad things happen to good
people. Bad things happen right in the middle of our otherwise good worlds and
lives that make us question whether such a thing as peace
exists.
This past year has been a tough one for our family. As many of you know,
two years ago, we experienced a miracle. Mom had finally come back home to
us…vent-free. Learning to walk, able to talk, partaking in life with us once
again following an 18 month journey that often bordered on the edge of death. We
all had a joyous, and miraculous year with mom, each and every one of us. Then
suddenly, right in the middle of all the good things that surrounded us, a year
ago, in November of 2012, mom had a second, huge stroke. She spent the majority
of 2013 in hospitals, experiencing more strokes and slowly losing more and more
ability to function like a typical person as a result.
Now, she can hardly move at all (her original, left, weak side has become
her strong side—which is still pretty weak and nonfunctional). She has lost the
entire speech center of her brain and is no longer able to speak. Many days she
is asleep or highly neurologically agitated (agitation not due to emotional
awareness but brain dysfunction) and requires sedation to ease the condition.
Every six weeks or so though, she appears to be aware of us, tries to get our
attention by tapping us, and even speaks a few intelligible words (though most
of her speech at these rare times is largely jarbled). Given her current
condition, we can’t help, at times, to stop and wonder why mom is still here on
earth in this present condition of what appears to look like a really bad place
to be, and we wonder, “Where is the peace for her?”
Though we all experience good things in life, we have to admit that
sometimes, the bad things seem to outweigh them. It’s during these bad times
that we wonder most about where peace can be found, or if it even can be found
at all. But then we are reminded that our Savior, the Prince of Peace, came to
us right in the middle of a dark, dangerous, calamity-filled world too. When
Jesus came to dwell among us, the world was far from a peaceful place. The local
people tended sheep and the dangers to their livestock were so great that they
had to live in the fields in order to protect their livelihood. Bad things, in
the form of predators, would come in the middle of the night to rob, kill,
steal, and destroy. We, too, live in a world of turmoil and bad things that
happen unexpectedly…our predators are sickness, destruction of home and
property, job loss and poverty, division of relationships, separation, and
sometimes, even death. Similar to the world in which we live, the shepherds, who
were common-folk like us, had to be constantly on guard against bad things
happening. So you may wonder at how God could have seemingly overlooked such bad
things in the world, and more personally, in our lives, and puzzle over how we
can go on in the midst of our adversities. Actually…that’s where the peace
comes, in the birth of our Savior:
“And
there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their
flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the
Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do
not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the
people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the
Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in
cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host
appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest
heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor
rests.” Luke
2:9-14
God
sent us a gift of peace when He first came to dwell among us so many years ago.
But what exactly did He mean by peace, especially in the midst of so many bad
things happening in the world at that time, and in our worlds now? The word peace in this verse means ‘when all
essential parts are joined together resulting in God’s gift of wholeness.’ How
could mom, or anyone else who appears to be suffering through bad things, be
peaceful or whole? How can a ‘gift from God?’ be found in the midst of her
current condition? I dug deeper. The root word for peace comes from the word eudokeo which means converted or
transformed. The meanings of transform and convert are: to change in form,
appearance, or structure, metamorphose; to change in condition, nature or
character, convert; to transmute or change from one condition to another; to
change in form of a figure without changing the value.
When
God came to dwell among us, He gave us the gift of transformation, the ability
to change from one condition to another. In every circumstance, we have the
ability to look around us, at us, or above us and be converted or transformed.
We have been given the gift of being able to rise above life’s circumstances by
resting in Him, in His favor. Sometimes, the outward appearance of things isn’t
the reality of what is. Because of God’s gift of peace that He brought to us
when He first came to dwell among us, we are able to enter into a secret place
where only we and He dwell…no one else shares this place. It is a private place
where we commune with God and are converted and transformed into a condition
that changes the outward circumstances and appearances easily seen by the naked
eye, and into one of metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis
is a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of a
being…just like a caterpillar waiting in its cocoon stage to pass on to the
butterfly stage. That’s where many of us have the ability to be when bad things
happen—in the cocoon with God, because that was the gift He gave us the first
time He came to dwell among us. I believe that’s where mom is now. In her
private, peace-filled cocoon with God waiting to pass on to the next stage in
the cycle of life---the butterfly stage, where her spirit sets flight on its
newly formed wings to transcend to our final destination in heaven. We each get
glimpses of that place of transformation each and every day of our lives, if we
choose to accept God’s gift of peace. I
am reminded now of a saying I keep pinned to the wall in my office: Peace…It
does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work.
It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.
May
you all receive God’s gift of peace, given the first time He came to dwell among
us years ago. Peace and Be Well ~ Kathy and Lenny
