Dear One,
The older I get, the more I realize that so much of life is about letting go. Today’s letter is about something we can hold onto. And it’s our peace.
Many moons ago, Moses addressed a people moved by fear. “You need only to be still,” he said (Exodus 14:14).
“You need only to be still,” Moses told them, as their enemies were in hot pursuit. But hear me on this, still didn’t mean stationary. It didn’t mean to freeze in fear. It wasn’t an order to drop it all and do nothing. After all, in the very next verse, God commanded Moses to have the people get a move on! Still didn’t mean stay, dear friend.
“Still,” in the above context, meant “hold your peace.” Hold your peace even as you proceed. Hold your peace, not your panic.
It was a keep calm and carry on kind of order, even though the place they were going looked chaotic at best. It was a call to inner stillness when stress ensued. 
To hold one’s peace can mean to practice a kind of restraint, as in, “speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Forever hold your peace.
Now there’s good advice!!
We humans are well versed in holding a lot of things: our fears & failures, our what-if’s & worries, our anger & anxieties, our resentments & wrongs. These paralyze us. They keep us stuck and stayed for the enemy to slay. That’s the wrong kind of stilled, my friend. A place we don’t want to stay. What if we restrained from doing that, and instead, forever held our peace?
“Peace I leave with you; My perfect peace I give to you … Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.” John 14:27 (Amplified)
Hold Your Peace: Our Little Life Words of the week.
DEEPER DIVE
Ponder:
- What are you holding?
- Where might you need to practice restraint in order to better hold your peace?
- in your thoughts? words? beliefs or behavior patterns?
- Where are you stuck & stayed?
Practice:
- Buy a Keep Calm and Carry On shirt, wall sign, bookmark, or mug as a reminder to hold your peace even as you proceed.
- Find a small pebble and paint or just write the word peace on it. Carry it with you daily as a reminder to, quite literally, hold your peace.
Play:
- Our song of the week is: Peace be Still by Hope Darst
Pray:
- May your perfect peace calm me in every circumstance and give me courage and strength for every challenge I face today. Amen.