As the winter months approach, the days get shorter and shorter and the Christmas season gets nearer marking the end of yet another year, there appears to an atmosphere of ever-increasing urgency – people wanting to achieve their goals for the year, deals needing to be struck, businesses wanting to meet their financial targets for the year.
In many ways, life just seems to be getting busier.
Somehow, we need to be able to find a way to experience calm in the midst of the chaos that seems more and more to surround us.
A story is told in the Bible of Peter, a disciple of Jesus Christ, who started to walk on water at the request of his Master, Jesus.
He was indeed able to do this, as long as he kept his focus on Jesus. However, the moment his focus left Jesus, he started to sink.
Yet again, there is another Bible story whereby Jesus was in a boat in the middle of the sea with his disciples when a fierce storm started. He was fast asleep and his disciples wondered how he could be asleep instead of saving them from the wrath of the storm.
His response to them was “Peace be still”. He eventually calmed the storm, but not before pointing out to them that they had little faith.
We too can be still and find peace and security in the midst of the chaos around us, if we can keep our focus on Jesus, belief in Him and trust that through the storms of life, He is there with us and He will see us through to a place of peace.
Indeed, we can truly be calm in the midst of the chaos around us, if only we keep the right focus.
By Alison Awuku, from Wokingham Seventh Day Adventists, writing on behalf of Churches Together in Wokingham
