Ordinary Time

Pause

Take three deep breaths, eyes closed, and repeat these words in your head:

Breathe the Spirit in,
Breathe distractions out.

Breathe the Spirit in,
Breathe distractions out.

Breathe the Spirit in,
Breathe distractions out.

Listen

Let the Lord give strength to his people! Let the Lord bless his people with peace!

Psalm 29:11

Think

I love how the Psalmist pairs strength and peace. I often think of peace as the lack of something — the lack of noise or struggle or chaos. An oasis. A bubble. But real peace is something we are able to find in the midst of noise or struggle or chaos — and that takes strength.

While it takes incredible strength to run a mile in five minutes, it also takes incredible strength to hold something in stillness for five minutes. It takes strength to speak truth to power, and it takes strength to hold an uncomfortable silence.

Peace is not the absence of something, but the intentional and sometimes difficult decision to choose peace as a counterintuitive posture. As the psalmist says: “Let the Lord give strength to his people! Let the Lord bless his people with peace!”

Lauren Holder

Pray

Thank you, God, for strength. May I use it to choose and create peace in myself and in our world. Amen.

Go

Let us go out into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit!

Thanks be to God.

Book of Common Prayer