Peace: The Absence of Disorder

What stands in the way of experiencing peace?

“Generation Y’s don’t talk on the phone, right?” The man speaking on the use of technology in marketing looked around the room. A few 20-somethings nodded or commented in agreement as they continued to access the world on their smart phones.

I’m not a member of Generation Y, and yet there are many ways to communicate with me: phone, email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. And, recently, a friend showed up and knocked on my door, for goodness’ sake!

How Do We Teach Our Children about Peace?

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” (I Corinthians 14:33 NIV)

How do we teach our children about peace in the midst of the cacophony of technological intrusions?

Peace Is a Fruit of the Spirit

Peace Found in an Afternoon of “Nothing”

Several years ago, I sat on the back porch with my preschool grandsons doing nothing. The leftovers from an afternoon snack were attracting flies on the patio table. The water hose that had provided so much fun for the last hour or so needed to be turned off, but I didn’t want to intrude on the spell cast by the murmur of God’s creation all around us. We continued to sit and talk—or not talk. Silence was okay, too.

Later that evening, as we settled down to read a bedtime story, one of my grandsons said, “BeBe, I like sitting on your porch.”

“Me, too. What do you like about it?”

“Doing nothing.”

Did God build into our DNA the desire to do nothing some of the time? Is it possible that it is only when our minds rest that we can hear his voice? Are children perhaps more tuned into that need than adults are? I pray I never become so accustomed to the noise that I don’t seek the peace that comes in the quiet times.

Questions: How do we teach our children about peace? What are some ways you turn off the world’s intrusion into your family?