NormsMilfordBlog

“A peaceful heart finds joy in all of life’s simple pleasures.”  (Franklin Cider Mill sign)

I tried to look up that quote, but it is unattributed anywhere that I found it as written. The closest that I found was by Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr –  “A peaceful heart is a joyful heart in all of life’s circumstances.” Pilkington is a pastor, author and radio host.

I’ve written here before that local pastor Doug McMunn, of the Milford United Methodist Church, is one of my favorite people and often uses the phrase “Be at peace” when discussing topics that might otherwise boil over with passion or emotion. He is also the best listener that I’ve ever met.

The concept of being at peace with the world around you and with yourself is a tough one for many people to understand. How can one be at peace while living in a sometimes tumultuous world? I think the secret is to find peace within yourself and with your situation first. I’ve posted here a few times about being able to like/love yourself first, before you can even try to like/love others. Once you get to the point that you can honestly say to yourself, “I like me and I’m happy with where I am in my life, with what I have”; you will find yourself to be at peace and ready to share love or friendship with others.

Some are able to get to that state of self-acceptance and peace through meditation and some use the power of prayer. One way or another one must peel back the layers of concern and fear and anger and envy and self-destructive negativity that burden us in life and expose the very core of your being. You will not find there any of those bad things; just hope and love and trust and acceptance. If you can get back in touch with that innocent, inner child-like being that was once so blissfully happy playing with its own toes you may come to realize that everything that you have stripped away to get back to that state is basically meaningless. You can be at peace with yourself. Once you get to that state of having a peaceful heart, the rest of today’s quote takes over and you can begin to really enjoy life’s simple pleasures.

So, for this weekend, if only for a moment – be at peace.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 3rd, 2016 at 3:03 pm and is filed under faith, Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.