As a wise man was once walking from one town to another with a friend, they passed a small lake.. They stopped there and the wise man said, “I’m thirsty, please get me some water from that lake there”.
The friend walked to the lake, but noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, then a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy and dirty. The friend thought, “How can I give this muddy water to my friend to drink!” So he came back and told him that the water was too muddy and not fit to drink. A little later, the wise man asked his friend to go back to the lake again and get him some water to drink. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above was fit to drink, so he collected some and brought it to the wise man.
The wise man looked at the water, and said, “See what you did to make the water clean? You let it be … and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water!”
Our minds are like this too. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.
What did the wise man say? He said that it was effortless. Having ‘peace of mind’ is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. To have the peace OF God, we must have peace WITH God. This makes all the difference. Then the peace OF God will spread around you and in this environment, other people around will start feeling that peace and grace.
I was visiting a friend in a rest home recently, and she said that different ones had asked her how she could bear to be cooped up in her bedroom day by day. She said it was all in her attitude. For her, she had no choice. But she DID have a choice whether she was going to accept it gracefully and gratefully with a smile , or resentfully with a bad attitude. Her prayer is that her room will be noticed by the staff as a room of peace and joy, and already some have mentioned that they notice this. She regards these confining conditions as another mission field for her…one which able-bodied older people do not have in the same way.
What a lesson to us all! If we take all our situations to the Lord and thank Him for the answer BEFORE we get it, His peace will envelop us and will be seen by those around us! (Philippians 4:6-7)