Are You At Peace? - The Christian Online Magazine

http://www.stacistallings.com

Everyone is working so hard these days. Getting ahead, that's what
most people call it. We've got cell phones, palm pilots, laptops,
beepers, and pagers so that we never have to be disconnected from the
world. In fact, there's one commercial that shows a man sitting on a
mountaintop next to a pristine lake in the middle of nowhere working on
his laptop! The tagline says something like: Keeping you connected no
matter where you are.

It's a nice idea really, being connected to our fellow beings on the
planet all the time, being able to contact practically anybody anywhere
any time. In theory it's a nice idea, but in reality, I think that
all this busyness is really a mask for something deeper. Being able to
"reach out and touch someone" can easily begin to take over every
waking hour so that you increasingly do not have time to get in touch
with yourself. And that's a problem.

In her book, "A Return to Love," Marianne Williamson talks about
goals, but she doesn't jump on the "how-to and why-to" bandwagon
that most inspirational authors do. What she says instead is that rather
than praying for and focusing our energy on attaining goals that
we've set, we should pray for and focus on being at peace no matter what
happens.

She's not saying, "Sit on your tail, and do nothing." What
she's saying is that because we inhabit such a small speck of this immense
universe, we cannot possibly know what is truly best in a given
situation. For example, say you want a job with XYZ Company, and you truly
believe this job will make you happy; that it is the perfect job. So
you pray really hard every night that you will get this job, and you do
affirmations 100 times every night, "I will be hired by XYZ Company.
I will be hired by XYZ."

Chances are, because of the power of the mind, you will be hired by XYZ
Company. However, as often happens, a year down the road you're
miserable and you wish you had never heard of XYZ Company. Why? You got
the goal. You got what you wanted. You got what you thought would make
you happy. But you missed the opportunity to get what you really wanted,
and that was peace about the situation of wanting to work for a great
company.

You thought that getting that job would give you peace and happiness,
and now you think you were wrong. Have you ever heard the saying, "Be
careful what you ask for because you just might get it"? This is the
lesson that saying is talking about. You are asking for what you think
will make you happy instead of asking God to make you happy no matter
what.

Grasping and truly implementing this lesson requires letting go and
letting God take over. Trust to the nth degree. It is embodied in the
saying a wise friend once told me: "In the end it will always be okay.
If it;s not okay, it's not the end."

So, pray for peace in your life. You never know. You just might get
what you ask for.

Inspiration and more inspiration is now available in "Reflections On
Life" by Staci Stallings. Come see for yourself at:
www.stacistallings.com You'll feel better for the experience!