The other day, I talked with a friend as he picked up his young toddler from the after-school program. As we chatted, we remarked how his daughter looked like she had woken up from a nap and would likely fall back asleep on the ride home. My friend commented, “That is the best sleep, and you don’t know how to drive yet, so the rhythm and sounds of the car lull you to sleep!”
It is difficult for me to ride in the car with someone else driving, much less sleep while someone else drives. That sometimes is a commentary on the driver but always about me. How can I sleep when there is so much to worry about – missed turns, pedestrians jumping out onto the road, and accidents? Maybe they will miss the GPS warning them to turn, warning them again to turn, telling them to turn, and yelling at them when they didn’t turn – what would they do if I wasn’t awake?
The point is that I cannot sleep when someone else is driving, and I think those who know how to drive do not sleep in a car like we did when we were toddlers because we lack trust that we will ever reach our destination safely.
In a small way, I think this analogy works for our life with God. We worry and fret with every up and down; we worry about the future, we worry about the past, and we try to control what we cannot control all because we lack a level of trust in God to get us where we are going. If we trusted more, we would have more peace. If we trusted more, we would experience more peace.
The Old Testament word for peace is most often Shalom, meaning the way things were intended by God. The New Testament word for peace is usually Eirene, a Greek word. The word peace is more commonly known by us, meaning serenity or tranquility.
As we learn to trust God more, we have more serenity, tranquility, and peace.
Christmas gives us hope for peace – both in all things being the way God designed them to be and our experience of serenity and tranquility when they do not seem to be. Jesus Christ, peace Himself, as described in Ephesians, was born to be peace, to bring peace, and for us to experience peace.
The Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13 can help give us a sense of peace. It promises us that though things are not how they will be today, in the end, Jesus will come again ... and all will be just as it was intended in the world.
That certain guaranteed future, because of the birth of Christ, gives us peace today.