My Peace: Dana Snyder

My Peace

“It’s okay, honey, I’ll take the dog out.” It is 12:30 a.m. and my husband had just rolled over and whispered those words to me. Not especially romantic, but in light of the fact that it wasn’t the dog whimpering to go outside but instead, it was me whimpering because my knee was on fire with pain, I am eternally grateful that I had someone who was willing to “take the dog out.” And even though I was hurting physically, I was at peace because he was there. How could I be at peace with a throbbing knee propped up on a pillow with an ice bag on it?

I had that peace of mind because I was secure in the knowledge that my husband would take care of me (and the dog). I was also at peace because as I lay there trying to struggle through the pain, I was remembering Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I had been laying there praying for relief from my pain, knowing that if I gave my pain over to Him, He would give me that release. In our human frailty, sometimes we don’t quite succeed in trusting in Him completely (thus the whimpering). In my mind and in my heart, I knew that He would help me. Jesus said in John 14:27 “ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Barbara Johnson is one of my favorite authors and she wrote: Last year when the Women of Faith conference was in Buffalo, New York, my husband and I took a few ours off to visit Niagara Falls. What an extraordinary place of beauty and power God created there! Just a short distance above the falls the wide Niagara River seems so peaceful and smooth, and then suddenly it plunges over the edge and thunders into a roaring current of foam and vapor – a natural wonder that is anything but peaceful. As if the falls themselves weren’t spectacular enough, for more than a century daredevils have been performing all sorts of incredible feats there, trying to win recognition for their courage, if not for their amazing lack of common sense! The most famous of these daredevils was Blondin, who first crossed the Niagara gorge on a tight rope in 1848.

Blondin just didn’t walk across the tight rope strung high over the gorge, however. He pushed a wheel barrow across it too. Another time he carried his manger across on his back. Finally, he carried a pack out to the middle of the high wire. There, hundreds of feet above the churning water, he took out a little wood burning stove, lit a fire, cooked an omelet, and then lowered it on a china plate to the crew of a boat waiting below.

When I heard that story, the image of a man nonchalantly cooking breakfast on a tight rope strung across a gorge created in my mind a vivid illustration of the Christian walk. As believers, we too are tight rope artists, walking Christ’s narrow way that stretches straight and true above life’s churning waters. We know it is not an easy rope to walk, and we know there are other ways to cross the river. But we choose this one, carefully placing one foot in front of the other and easing out over the abyss.

Occasionally we wobble, but we do not fall. Balanced on the tight rope, high above the chaos, we experience an outrageous peace. And this peace is ours simply because of what we take across the high wire. Not a balancing bar. Not a wheel barrow. Not a stove for cooking breakfast. Instead we take the nail-scarred hand of Jesus and step out confidently over the water, knowing that “the Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace” (Psalm 29:11).

Barbara hit it on the head. The Lord does give us strength and He does bless us with peace. He offers us a peace that does not require us to be perfect. I can whimper if I want to, knowing that I can come to Him as I am and ask Him to help me. That’s my peace.