Peace Talks

I wasn’t sure what sort of image I wanted to use for this post, but when I saw this one, it was an immediate “Yes, that’s the one!” It made me laugh. “Talking around the water cooler” comes to my mind. Photo credit goes to pixabay user aitoff.

To be honest, I’ve been struggling to feel peaceful. Have you ever felt as if you were in more than one battle? If you imagine a movie scene where the hero is standing there taking on a mob that’s coming at him from every direction, you’ll have an accurate visual of where my head has been.

It’s difficult to soldier through those thoughts and emotions on your own. Add to that mix empathy for those who are fighting their own battles, and it can become overwhelming. So I’ve been striving for peace.

Alienated

For more than one reason, I’ve been feeling very alienated. I was doing everything that brings us the peace of God: reading my Bible, praying, pouring out my heart in poetry, listening to music and gleaning comfort from other Christian bloggers posts, but I haven’t been sharing my troubles. I need those “peace talks.” However, there are things that you don’t want to share publicly. You need close friends who know you and love you to share those burdens with–someone that you can trust. In my desperation to unload, I finally caved and emailed a friend who I haven’t conversed with in 5 months. It’s complicated (or at least it was.) Our friendship had lost that peacefulness.

I had some reservations about sending out this email. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a good thing. The response I recieved allayed my fears that I might be opening up a can of worms instead of finding some peace. In fact, those “peace talks” have thankfully begun.

This was so comforting that it brought me to tears, but when he seemed so different, and he wrote that he felt that a miracle had happened, it brought me to tears for a whole different reason; I didn’t want new and improved. I wanted the friend I remembered (How messed up is that? Especially since I was praying for change!) Now I was positive that I’d hit my melting point as I started crying over something I should have been rejoicing.

My friends response? “My challenges will come out in due time, don’t worry. LOL. None of us likes change. I’ve learned especially as I’ve gotten older that I like change less and less.” This was so worth quoting. I missed that. It made me smile.

Why did I so desperately need to email this particular friend? Likely because I’ve known him for so many years. I knew that he would ackowledge me, pray for me, and share anything that would be helpful if necessary. More than this we already had an established friendship. He knows me. We aren’t strangers.

I realized something: Sharing our burdens isn’t about fixing the problems. (That’s God’s domain.) It’s about caring for one another. It’s about fellowship, friendship and family. It creates those strong lasting bonds. Yes, sometimes separation between friends is necessary for a time, but people do change with God’s help. I’m a sentimental and fickle human being, so that change in my friend caught me off gaurd and brought me to tears in the wrong way. In my need for comfort I was looking for old and familiar, but God wants to make things new, and so He does.

At heart I’m thrilled that God did a new thing in my friends life. This is what I want. The only old and familiar that we need is what we find in a God who Himself never changes. We, however, must be changed.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

Isaiah 43:19

Here’s a wonderful little poem that another dear friend of mine wrote. Close, long standing relationships are precious and so necessary. We weren’t meant to be an island. Don’t let them slip away so easy.

Landmarks

Life can be like a road trip
You see many new things
But stop, enjoy, or away they may slip
people in our lives are much like landmarks you see
If you go too fast they fade into the past
and you will miss the beauty they bring. ❤

Ronda T. ❤