Peaceful…
Quiet…
It is quiet as I stand looking at the old courthouse in the downtown square…
No symphony of traffic sounds.
No low hum of tires on the pavement…
No staccato interruption from car horns…
No low rumble of airplanes descending into a nearby airport
Just the sound of a light breeze brushing up against the leaves of the trees…
My body relaxes in the deep quiet.
It has been a long time since I visited my home town.
It is a beautiful early evening…
I walk the streets that were so familiar decades ago…
In one block several people are walking toward the same house …
Neighbors getting together to talk at the end of the day.
At the local ice cream shop, I watch as neighbors stand talking in the parking lot…
In absolutely no hurry to leave…
How calm and peaceful.
“The benefits of small town living,” I think.
Nobody worried about getting somewhere…
Everybody enjoying being wherever they are.
The next day, back in the suburb of the big city where I live…
I get impatient waiting at a stoplight that takes FOREVER…
Impatient in the long line at the fast food restaurant…
Impatient when I take a shortcut on a backroad, only to be stopped by a train.
Waiting for the train to pass, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel…
I think about the night before in my small hometown.
Living in a place like that would be calming…
No traffic …
No delays…
Time to focus on the moment…
Time to be with other people…
Time to be with God.
Looking up, I see the train still slowly moving through the crossing…
My small hometown seems so attractive right now…
If I lived there, I would be so different.
Or would I?
Would I take my attitudes of hurry and impatience with me?
Maybe an attitude of peace doesn’t depend on where we live…
But on who lives in us…
Jesus said…
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11: 28
For He is the one true source of peace and rest…
…I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
We can be with Him anywhere and anytime…
Because He promises to be with us everywhere and always…
… behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
