Five Minutes of Peace

My Peace I give you, my peace I leave with you. John 14:27

For a couple of years when the kids were little, they stayed two days a week with our dear friend Coffee Cindy. There were lots of fun kids to play with and a woods to explore and bikes, toys, and fun at every turn.

One of the many, many fond memories they have of their time with Coffee Cindy was her story reading. They often took field trips to the library. When they would return with a bag full of books, she would line them all up on the couch and read story after story.

One day she read a story called Five Minutes of Peace. It was a sweet little story about a mother elephant who just wanted five minutes of peace and quiet to rest and drink her tea. Mother Elephant went from room to room only to have her little elephant babies follow her and disturb the peace.

After reading the story, Cindy asked if all the kids gave their mamma five minutes of peace. Kevin spoke up in a loud voice and said, “No way!” Jason responded with a loving, “She likes it when we’re with her all the time.” We still laugh about their concept of mamma’s personal space.

I find it strange that later in life I switched from high school to lower elementary education. Spending seven hours a day with a room full of little lovelies doesn’t provide much peace and quiet. We’ve had some indoor recesses and our first snow of the year so the past few days have been anything BUT peaceful and quiet.

About ten this morning I realized I really needed five minutes of peace so during lunch I snuck off to my favorite spot during a crazy school day…the church.

Our church is so beautiful and so peaceful I knew some quiet minutes with the Lord would be the best idea of the week. On the walk next door to the church I remembered the Mother Elephant story and I giggled thinking Mamma Elephant was finally going to get her five minutes of peace.

I was already composing this blog in my mind as I pulled open the huge heavy wooden door to my peaceful spot. I slipped into a pew and knelt down to pray and was suddenly jolted right down to my cotton socks by a rather loud and off-key sound coming from the pipe organ up in the choir loft. A few more seconds passed and then I realized that they were tuning the organ so I left not really getting my five minutes of peace. I just had to giggle; God does have a sense of humor!

There is a little bit of Mother Elephant in all of us! We really do need some peace and silence each day. It’s good for the soul because the sounds and events of the world don’t always build us up and draw us closer to Christ. Quite the opposite is often true.

We need those minutes of still silence to empty our heart and mind of earthly concerns so God can speak to us about the concerns of heaven. God won’t yell; He speaks to us only in the beauty of silence.

It’s the best…we don’t have to worry about what to say or think or do. We need only to be present and still in the silence asking God to come into our hearts and give us a word or a thought to guide us. We simply can’t accomplish that when we don’t put down the iPod, iPad, laptop, tablet, TV, and smartphone.

No training or equipment is required; just sit down, open up your heart and invite God to meet you in the middle of the silence. He will reveal more to you than you can imagine.

I suppose when we really stop to think about it, God is like my son’s interpretation of Mother Elephant…He wants us with Him all the time. Why not make a date? Don’t worry about what you wear and certainly don’t worry about what to say: it’s a silent date which is the best kind of all when Christ is your date.

A Seed To Plant: Get out your planner and schedule five minutes of peace each day! The Father will be happy to meet you in the silence. Let us know what you discovered during your five minutes of peace.

Blessings on your day!