Surprised by Peace

May is my favorite month. I gaze out the kitchen window at the brilliant pink crabapple trees standing over blushing tulips. Lilacs come into the house in bunches. Bikes come out for long rides, during which we smell morning rain over the forest preserve prairie. Sound carefree? Don’t let it fool you. This kind of peace doesn’t come easy in May. It’s also my craziest month.

It Started Crazy

I suppose we deserve this craziness since we started our life together by getting married the day after my husband graduated college. It was not stressful at all. I spent my first year of teaching high school grading papers, creating lesson plans, making a wedding dress, and booking a community center and a photographer. Deep in pre-med studies, my husband couldn’t offer much help. Peace? Not that spring.

When our oldest daughter got married two years ago, I informed my other two daughters they had to follow suit and keep all the family weddings in May. We could all go away for one big weekend to celebrate four anniversaries, one birthday, and Mother’s Day.

One year, we had college and high school graduation the same week as everything else, including Mother’s Day. (The girls feel bad about both colleges planning graduation on Mother’s Day, but I say what better gift than to see my baby walk across that stage and get her diploma?)

In May, our passion for gardening meets full engagement. It’s spring, so everything needs to be planted, and weeds are shooting up far faster than the average zinnia or green bean. We have to act quickly and vigilantly to beat their pace.

Track season finishes in May, and 4-H projects start in a frenetic countdown to the county fair. Pastors (at least this one) attend all the end-of-school-year events we can manage. Kids are moving back in/moving out.

It’s hectic.

It’s Not Just Us

I know you feel this too. May has more than its share of events to make us frenzied, frazzled, and exhausted. I don’t think Jesus meant life to look like this, yet I don’t know how to stop the crazy. Do you? Sure, we’ve read all the books about managing time and quieting down. We have our planners in front of us, complete with lists of goals and tasks, and timelines. We’ve organized our lives, our kitchens, and our offices. Yet the train still barrels straight toward us this time of year. It can feel like we do some mornings when we drive my daughter to the train station. One minute too late, and the train gates go down while we’re still in traffic on the wrong side of the tracks, too far away to make a run for the tunnel, just watching her train leave without her.

All those goals and tasks and timelines look as unattainable as hopping on that moving 7:21 a.m. express. Yet I have fallen upon the one thing that always works for me, and Paul of the Bible mentions it too. He’s just told some people enmeshed in chaos to knock off the arguing and fighting. He goes on to beg them to think about beautiful, pure things to get their heads right. Then he says,

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7 NLT).

The Key to Peace

The key to peace is in that second sentence—“Tell God.” Tell your daddy what you need. Just sit down and talk to him about what’s going on and how frenzied you feel. Don’t be shy about it. It’s not like he doesn’t already know.

Then—this is the important part—thank him for all he’s done. Remember. Go back in your mind to the times you know you saw his hand in your day. We call these God sightings at our house. Where did you see him? When did he swoop into your day to bless you?

It might be the lilacs blooming in the neighbor’s yard when you were outside putting up tables for the party. Their smell made its way to your yard and made you smile. That was God.

It could have been the extra kindness from the cashier the third time you went to Target in one day. That was God.

Maybe it was the friend who laughed with you when the dessert caught on fire (not that this has ever happened to me), or the baby robins you spied in the nest under your porch eaves. Those were both God.

Did you catch the promise in these verses? Thank him for what he’s done—and you will experience peace. Not any old peace, but supernatural peace that guards your heart from attacks of worry, impatience, and exhaustion.

Write It Down

Writing down my thanks makes a difference too. No organizational guru ever gave me the peace this one discipline does. It seems counterintuitive, but stopping to tell God what I need and what I’m thankful for brings peace every time. We don’t imagine that taking time from a crazy schedule to give thanks will work this miracle, but it does. Gratitude and peace go together. I can’t explain it. It isn’t quantifiable.

The key to peace is to give thanks for what God has done. Make time to write it down so you can remember later. Then—be surprised by peace.

Jill Richardson is a writer, speaker, pastor, mom of three, and author of five books. She likes to travel, grow flowers, read Tolkien, and research her next project. She believes in Jesus, grace, restoration, kindness, justice, and dark chocolate. Her passion is partnering with the next generation of faith. Jill blogs at jillmrichardson.com.

Photograph © Bethany Beams, used with permission