There is no peace except the peace of God

I have mistaken relief for peace many times.

The answer arrives, the bill is paid, the conflict goes quiet, or the scan is clear. My body releases its tension and I think, *Now I am safe.*

Then another uncertainty appears.

Relief matters. I am grateful when a practical problem resolves. But relief depends on the condition remaining resolved.

The peace of God has a different foundation.

It does not require me to believe that nothing difficult will happen. It reminds me that nothing can separate me from Love when it does.

I once prepared the house before people came over and felt relief when everything was clean, organized, and temporarily under control.

Then someone set a bag on the cleared counter, dishes began collecting, and the order I had created started disappearing almost immediately.

If peace depended on the room remaining untouched, people themselves had become a threat to it.

God’s peace allowed the house to become lived in again. I could appreciate order without asking it to protect me from the ordinary movement of life.

Today I want to notice the form of relief I have appointed as my source of peace.

I can hope, plan, celebrate, and work toward better circumstances.

I simply do not need to make them responsible for a peace they were never designed to sustain.