Choosing Peace

An uncomfortable situation occurred at work. It was one of many in recent history that are prone to turn work hours into one giant pity-party.  Honest mistakes on the part of others. How quickly we can build resentment when we are left picking up the pieces for something not our fault!  But after all, the workforce is made up of these things called humans. We humans make mistakes. Every. Single. Person.  The question then is how do we accept the mistakes?

When things go wrong, typically my first reaction is to find out whom I can blame for the mistake. We call this a “pecking order”, or a “chain of command”. Blame the little guy. Down the line the blame goes leaving miserable people in the wake. It doesn’t end when it reaches the last person. They in turn pass that miserableness on to unrelated persons who cross their path, and so the unhealthy chain continues.

In the midst of all of this we are called to something greater. We read in Philippians 4: 6-7, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Peace? What is that? We say. It feels like a meaningless word, and not something we can actually apply to our lives.

A few months ago I was gifted a small book by Father Jacque Philippe titled, Searching for and Maintaining Peace. The book is not much to look at on first glance – a small peach-colored book with bad graphics, but the content speaks. Short and to the point, Father Jacques Philippe writes, “This search for peace could seem quite egotistical to some people.” “How then can we propose this as one of the principal goals of our efforts, when there is so much suffering and misery in the world?” “To this we must first reply that the peace of which we speak is that of the Gospels; it has nothing to do with impassivity.”

And again he continues, “Because only this peace of heart truly liberates us from ourselves, increases our sensitivity to others, and renders us available to our fellow-man.” Father Philippe teaches us that peace can be obtained in the smallest areas of our lives and that “only one who possesses this interior peace can efficaciously help his neighbor.” He continues by challenging us, “How can I communicate this peace to others, if I myself do not have it. How can there be peace in families in societies, between individual people, if there is no peace first in people’s hearts?”

Peace is a choice. A choice we make in the moments of anxiety to consciously detach from it. Can we rise above the drama in our lives and really live the call of the gospels?