Desiderata: Keep Peace in Your Soul

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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Julia Loveless Good morning. After speaking into many aspects of human life and emotion, Max Erhman writing in his prose poem (The Desiderata’) ends it simply by saying - “whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.” Surely we all know full well the sham, drudgery and brokenness of the world we live in. It is hard not be aware of it, with our devices updating us almost constantly with a stream of heart-breaking headlines. Max Ehrman encourages us, somehow, to keep peace in the midst of it all. Easier said than done. But in the Christian faith, there is precedent for this. Jesus said to His followers after teaching them about His way of life and His kingdom; “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Earlier in scripture, Isaiah muses on how faithful God is provide peace for those who look to Him: “you keep him in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed on you, because they trust in you.” The consistent promises seems to be that the gift of peace grows in us in ever increasing measure as we look to God, wait on Him and hope in Him. God; grow in me the gift of peace today as I turn my eyes and my heart to you. Amen