There was a king who had a great fascination and love for paintings. On a certain day, he decided to offer a very valuable prize to the artists who would paint a beautiful picture depicting peace. On the final day of the judgment, many artists brought their paintings with the hope of winning that valuable prize. The King looked at all the paintings and after careful study selected two paintings from where he will have to choose a final winner between one of the two final paintings. Now the King had to choose one out of the two paintings for the valuable prize. The first painting was a beautiful calm lake with clear transparent waters. The lake was a perfect mirror to the towering mountains surrounding it. Above it was the blue sky with white fluffy clouds like cotton balls floating in space. Anybody who saw this painting thought it was the perfect masterpiece representing peace. The second painting had mountains, rugged, dry, and bare. Above these mountains an angry sky, cast with dark clouds, lightning streaks here and there, a massive downpour of rain, ferocious waterfall cascading down one side of this bare Mountain. Peace? Thought the people who saw this painting, as the King looked closer he saw behind this rumbling waterfall a branch of a bush growing out of a crack in a rock. On the branch was a mother bird that had made a nest and within the nest was very peacefully with great affection feeding its little ones. The question now is which of the two paintings did the King choose for his valuable prize? Surprisingly to all, the King choose the second painting with the ferocious waterfall and angry skies. The King then explained, peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, where there is no trouble, no hard work, where there are no trials, where there are no tribulations, no difficulties. But peace means to be in the middle of all mayhem and chaos and still stay calm, yet stay focused, yet still able to make that inward journey.
Isn’t that the story of real-life as well as spirituality? It is the art of bringing us to that inner calm to that inner peace in our real life with all kinds of difficulties troubles and problems surrounding us that is the meaning and definition of real peace.
I want to talk to you today about leaving in peace. We should get up each day believing for a good day, expecting favour, knowing that God is directing our steps. But at the same time, we must know that everything may not go perfectly as planned, every person may not treat us right, and our plans may not stay on schedule. There may be some bumps in the road and things we did not see coming. If you are only going to enjoy your day when your plans work out, then you are setting yourself up for disappointment. In cars, we are expected to have a spare tire. However, when drivers set out to a new destination, they are not expecting to have a flat tire or to get stuck in a pothole but they expect to get to their destination as planned. But even though the drivers are expecting things to go their way, they have made provisions in case things do not go as planned. They have taken steps ahead of time in case the tire goes flat. In the same way, even though you are expecting your plans to work out, you need to have your spare for when your plans do not work out as expected.
So how do you get your spare tire? At the start of the day, you need to make up your mind that no matter what comes your way you decide to not get offended. No matter the delays, disappointments, bad breaks you are not going to be sour, because you have already made up your mind to stay in PEACE! That is how you make sure you have your spare tire. So when you step into your day and someone gets rude to you, your attitude should be no big deal I will not react to the rude behaviour and become bitter but I will put on my spare tire and keep moving forward. If I hit a pothole in life, something unexpected happens, like your loved one has an illness, you failed an examination, you were not accepted into that programme, you could be upset, worried but you have your spare tire, you decided ahead of time to stay in peace.
The people in your life, as good as they may be, there are no perfect people, there is no perfect friend, no perfect sibling, no perfect parents, no perfect neighbor, even if someone says you are, they are either lying or saying it by faith. Give people room to be human, stop expecting people around you to perform perfectly all the time. Well, they hurt my feelings, if you have your spare tire; you forgive them and move on. Don’t have unrealistic expectations. That person that loves you so much no matter how good they are, at times they are going to disappoint you, they are going to say thinks they shouldn’t say. Don’t be easily offended. My friend did not invite me over like she used to, my cousin did not congratulate me on my birthday. You don’t know what is going on in their lives, don’t take it personally. Here is a key; your happiness or peace is not someone else responsibility, you are responsible for your own happiness; you are responsible for your own peace. Too often, we are counting on other people to keep us cheered up, encouraged, feeling good about ourselves. That is putting too much pressure on the people in your lives. Let them off the hook, nobody can keep you fixed except our heavenly father. Don’t go to people for what only God can give.
Are you going through life without a spare tire, only happy when things go your way? The problem is the roads are bumpy; there will be some potholes, unexpected challenges. Without a spare, you will get stuck at the side of the road, bitter over a breakup with a friend, upset because a friend left you out stressed over things in your environment. Life is too short to live offended, upset, discouraged. Every day is a gift from God, you are not always going to be here, you have to put your foot down and say I am not going to keep allowing the same things to keep upsetting me, I am going to stay in peace even if the situation is unfair, even if my friends are not nice, even if unfortunate things happen, this is the day that the Lord has made, I have made up my mind I am going to enjoy it.
When we go around offended, upset, discouraged, really it dishonors God. You can say well people around me do not treat me right, they are unfair, remember this, you cannot control what others do but you can control what you do. If you let them upset you, you are giving away your power; you are letting them control you. Always decide ahead of time that you are going to stay in peace and you will tap into that power to stay calm.
A man was walking down the street to buy a newspaper; they got to the corner store where the man bought the paper every day. The sales boy behind the counter was as unfriendly as can be, cold, inconsiderate; acting like the man was bothering him. The man bought the paper, smiled, and said I hope you have a great day. The sales boy did not even look up, did not even acknowledge that he said anything. The man’s friend was surprised and said what was wrong with that sales boy? Is he always that rude? The man responded. ‘’every morning’’. His friend said, are you always this nice? The man responded every morning. The friend looked kind of puzzled and said why? The man said, “I have made up my mind that I will not allow another person ruin my day or steal my peace”
The man in the story was saying I have my spare tire, Yes, I hit this pothole every morning, but I will not get stuck here arguing, being rude, letting him ruin my day and peace. They may be people you meet frequently that seem to have the gift of getting on your nerves. They feel like it’s their calling in life to make you miserable. The good news is you are in control; they cannot make you unhappy or steal your peace unless you allow them to, they can’t make you to be frustrated, and it’s your choice. Now don’t live the remaining days of your life letting the same things steal your peace, giving away your power. Make a decision like this man; you are not going to let another person ruin your day. When someone is critical, condescending, rude, they have issues that they are not dealing with, they have become poisoned and now that poison naturally comes out. The key is don’t let their poison get into you, don’t let their bad attitude sour your day. You overcome evil with good; you don’t overcome evil with more evil. If you join in becoming rude to them, arguing, then you have allowed their poison to contaminate you and steal your peace. But when you take the high road, when you rise above it and you are kind to those that are unkind, you are respectful when people are disrespectful, you are being an Eagle, you are being in control and effectively keeping your peace.
