Oh So Peaceful

This week I'm planning/scheduling school for the year. Every summer my parents (bless their hearts) go camping for a week with our kids. The kids get away from the farm, build memories with their grandparents, and have fun. I get solitude.

Solitude doesn't automatically equal peace. I've got a bushel of pears on the basement floor, ripening faster than I'd like. The knowledge that I should be canning them robs me of some of my peace. The Farmer wants me to accompany him on a day trip for his work, but I need to make the most of my time scheduling and planning now, while the house is quiet. A project at my job continues to take up some valuable real estate in my brain, always making little bumping noises in a far corner of my mind, even when I'm not working on it or consciously thinking about it. Summer is almost over, and some shoulda-coulda-wouldas nag me a bit.

And there is the fire monitor that continues to intrude. The Farmer is a part-time firefighter and medical first-responder. Yesterday and today he's responded to awful situations caused by bad choices made by desperate people. Unthinkable, if you buy into the idea that the rural countryside is a peaceful place.

And let's not even start on world events.

Isaiah 9 says: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. (At this point I can hear strains of Handel's Messiah in my head.) And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

I know that this prophecy is for now, as well as for later. We can have peace in our hearts and our lives (if we will live according to God's plan). Later, there will be complete peace. I'm not able to always live fully in peace right now, but I'm looking forward to the peace that is coming...