I think I might have a new goal. As if I needed anything else on my plate right now.
An old Sunday School song from my youth claims that "I've got the peace that passeth understanding down in my heart." It's origin is from Philippians 4:7, which offers "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ." I've heard or sung that song a million times without ever really thinking about what those words mean. For whatever reason, this weekend I thought about it.
I currently have a peace that people can understand, which is to say that I am calm and at peace when my life situation is calm and at peace. I'm in complete control of my emotions and attitude, except when I've been wronged. People love to hear from others the comforting statement, "I can understand why you're upset," or "I've been there; I know how you feel." Then we get to feel justified for complaining about our jobs or worrying about our money or engaging in hateful speech. This peace is not beyond any understanding - it's completely reasonable to be peaceful when all about me is peaceful.
I want more. I want peace in the storm. I want a peace that no one can understand, that people can do nothing with but shake their head and try to figure out the source of my calm, cool, calculated behavior. I don't want to hold on to hate when my employer cheats me out of money, or hold on to frustration when I can't get 15 consecutive minutes in a Saturday morning without a child crying, or hold on to fear when I hear my six-month old has a rare disease that none of the local doctors have ever treated before. In all of these situations in the past month, I've had peace and reactions that everyone can understand and/or sympathize with. I want more.
I'm not saying that there's never a time to fight. There are plenty of causes worth fighting for. But one can fight with peace. A peaceful fighter, focused on the purpose of the fight instead of the knee-jerk reaction, is probably even a better, wiser fighter. And that fighter is someone that people will follow because they simply can't understand where such a peace comes from, and they follow just to get a taste of it.
This peace does not just happen. I know that I can't just decide that tomorrow I will exhibit this peace and magically it will appear. A peace that passeth understanding is a supernatural peace, a peace obtained from God. In Philippians Paul writes that it comes from two things:
- through prayer, with thanksgiving, make your requests know to God
- whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
I've written before on this blog about defining success. After pondering this, I realize I want more. I want to surpass understanding. When that happens, perhaps more people (including myself) will see God in the daily grind.
Monday, October 18, 2010
I Want to be Misunderstood
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Are you looking for the burning bush? I am working on a thought, and I want you to help me with this...
ReplyDeleteI too seek this peace that you are talking about. ( Sound a little like Yoda I do!!) I think with our professions both teaching and coaching, that this peace would be such a relief and more importantly a gift that would allow us to see and act more clearly in times of stress and adversity. So, why do we not have it? What has held us back in actually having this everyday?
Is it because we are human? Is it because we have to rely on faith in Jesus and are not able to physically be next to him? Is prayer the only way, or do we need a burning bush?
I can't answer for everyone, but I can answer for me. It's right there in Paul's words. If you want it, you've got to be rooted to the source (Christ) through prayer, and you've got to focus on true, noble, and pure things. Too often when coaching, I don't. I focus on winning. I make winning a god.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lack this peace that I wrote about, it's not that I've forgotten God. It's merely that I've quit focusing on God. I forget that my duty is to glorify God in what I do daily, not glorify me or my team.
I don't think you or I are bad people when we're passionate about coaching and pushed through stress and adversity, as you say. I simply think we've lost site of the forest for the trees. We've forgotten just how satisfying staring at that forest is. And we've forgotten that we're so much better with the trees (most notably the individuals we seek to affect each day) when we see them as part of the forest.
Without an eternal perspective, the stress of the day will dominate.
Perfect... As I have been growing in my faith, family role, and profession I do find that the central focus has to be my faith in Jesus. It is the times that I lose sight of him, that I begin questioning my thoughts and decisions during stress and adversity. It comes down to my communication with him. My struggle....
ReplyDeleteThanks for this blog!