Living Peaceably

Living peaceably is a daily choice. I don't claim to do it well, but my awareness of my resistance to it is slowly dawning on me.

Anxiety demands my time, energy, and well-being as it crowds out objectivity, connections, and joy... all the while causing my soul to shrivel.

Peace waits to be invited in and brings me the ability to rest and breathe while being in the midst of chaos, heartache, or anxiety. Peace expands my soul and allows me to retain a welcoming stance toward myself and others.

I'll continue to practice inviting peace into my daily life. I'll take responsibility when I realize I haven't. And I will ask my soul and others for forgiveness when I find I have chosen a posture of defense rather than love and acceptance.

I may not be able to control or change the circumstances life brings to me, but I can choose how I will respond to it.

I'm finding if my patterns of life are static, non-changing, that is essentially the life I am choosing.

I can either live as a victim of my own or others choices, or I can accept the varied moments life offers with grace and in peace. It will always be my choice.

I can live in peace today while hoping and advocating for change in the circumstances I find myself in. Peace and hope are not contrary to one another, they compliment one another.

I am the primary beneficiary of my choices; others are the secondary.

Peace for now and hope for tomorrow can only benefit us all.