Minister’s Musings – “Peace for All” 1/4/23

Last week, I shared some writing from the Soul Matters team about how the work of finding our center isn’t just about finding that calm and peaceful place inside of us, but that it’s also about finding our way through the discomfort that comes with learning and growth.  Finding our center, they wrote, means creating a balance between the space of peace and calm, and the space of being pushed and launched.

I’ve been thinking about this balance all week, as I found myself drawn into some interactions that helped me nurture a sense of peace within, as well as some interactions that threatened that sense of peace.  Being brought to the edges of my comfort zone doesn’t bring me peace– but it does shake me out of complacency and self-focus, which has to happen if I’m going to participate in the making of peace for all. 

When there’s calm within, I know I’m ready to be pushed again- and when there’s an abundance of calm within, I start to think it’s time to be shaken up again.  And when I’m at one of those growing edges that are so uncomfortable, I often realize that my work is less to achieve inner peace again than it is to discover why I’m so uncomfortable. 

That’s not an either-or scenario, though; one of the paths to inner peace is through countering the oppressive messaging and systems that keep others from finding peace.  So the path to finding my center, I’m now thinking, is the same as the path to finding our center.

Karen

1/4/23