When Life is (Too) Good

I’ve alluded in times recent to a particularly painful season our personal family and church family have weathered.  As a little time passes, resolution is giving way to remedy and it is to the great glory of God we remain in one piece.  Peace. What a lovely word and lovelier still the sigh of it but in it also lies the rub.  What does one do when the tears that threatened to wash her away are blotted dry by relative ease?  Am I the only woman who doesn’t know how to rightly settle into her rest because she has become so accustomed to battle?  And perhaps, in a toxic, codependant way, come to depend upon it for her spiritual well-being?

In all His dealings with the Israelites, do not miss the importance the Lord placed on dwelling rather than securing.  In the midst of conquest, His beloved were to strap on the shield of holy confidence knowing their God would fight on their behalf and supernaturally empower them to be the mightier of the warriors on the field that day. No commandment or Levitical instruction is provided for their training – at least in the traditional sense.  However, the finger of God wrote furiously for forty solid days to teach His children how to simply be.  How to hold it together when no external pressure offered any assistance.  How to relate to Him and to one another in the dailiness rather than the disaster.  It’s not as easy as it seems.

These are thoughts I’m working through as I prepare to teach a retreat next weekend.  I’ve come to some conclusions but I don’t want to offer them as a spoiler just yet.  Just know this:  there is a dangerously thread-thin line between dwelling in peace and being at ease in complacency.  We determine where we fall on any given day based upon whom or what we find our delight.  Oh that He would be our satisfaction and, for Pete’s sake, I wouldn’t be so prone to wander when the temperature on the furnace is turned down a few degrees.

I know it’s been quite some time since I’ve said hello but please know this little website and you who still read when I make an appearance are never far from my heart and mind.  As life continues to settle, I will wade back in.  Y’all are a joy to me and I appreciate your kind notes more than I can ever express to you.  In the meantime, please allow me to pick your brains.  Are you in a state of peace at the moment?  Either way, what is your greatest struggle when life is (too) good?