During my teens, I discovered a good way to find solitude as well as exercise was to take a walk in the country. Our small Kansas town gave many such opportunities, since farmland surrounded the residential areas. I found a country road within six blocks of my home. It featured rolling pastureland with several cattle chewing their cuds as they escaped the heat under the shade of a nearby tree.
My thoughts flickered by as I stretched my legs. A slight breeze touched my cheeks and the scent of wild flowers puckered my nose with a pleasant but allergic reaction. The sounds of insects buzzed and hummed creating a lazy drone and made me long for a nap. I instead chose a nearby stump and perched there while surveying the bucolic scene through the barbed-wire fence. A sense of peace and well-being came over my soul. I frequently went back to my quiet resting place throughout that summer.
During the following school year, I became too busy to return. Imagine my surprise on my first visit back, to find my sanctuary gone! Instead of the grassy field occupied by my bovine friends, I found a plowed-up area without the pleasant country scene.
What on earth! Who had taken my idyllic setting? How dare they rob me of my little piece of Heaven!
As I trudged home in grief, I began to realize that my real treasure had not been taken. I could still go back to my retreat in a moment. It was no longer in a geographical location, but no one could steal it from my memory. Without the effort of a hike, I could arrive there any time I pleased just by recalling it.
I learned that day that serenity is not a place but a state of mind. Later in my life, I discovered an even greater source of peace and tranquility. Whenever I became distressed with worry and fear, I learned to go into prayer and looked for direction in the Bible. It was there that I found multiple verses leading me to a new answer to my search. God gave me a peace beyond understanding with a redirection of my thoughts toward Him.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” Isaiah 26:3 ESV.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:7 ESV.
Dianna
Sharing the Fruit of Maturity
