Walking in Peace?

If we pick up where we left off last week we come to being yoked with Jesus.  When animals are yoked together they are together for a purpose.  It is not to stand there and look at the field in front of them, it is to move forward and pull that heavy plow behind them.  So we are yoked with Jesus to walk forward, not to stand still.  And we are given specific tools to make that walk in Ephesians 6.  This chapter contains the armor of God, but for our peace purposes specifically, Ephesians 6:15 says, "...and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace."  In this portion of scripture, as the fittings of God's armor are listed, each of the pieces are followed by a comma, until we come to peace.  Once peace is listed we find a period, a stopping point, a chance to reflect.  I believe this is for a purpose, a chance to consider all that came before and the gravity of the last comment - "...and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace."

We have said a couple times that life will not be easy, we are called to be different, to show a different way of life, to react in love, not with other emotions that may be closer to the surface in a given situation.  So imagine, for our children, if love actions were hard, how hard is it to understand walking in the sandals of peace?  Walking in the sandals of peace requires that God be the center of their being.  We can help define that walk by remembering that we are to expect joy.  To look expectantly to a God who has a plan for us and our best interest at heart.  So walking in peace means knowing that you have salvation and hope and that you have an awareness of all that the Lord has in store for you - that we look up in situations and not out or down.  Psalm 123:2 says, "As the eyes of slaves look up to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us mercy."  Expectant and peaceful walking. 

As we get close to the beginning of school my husband and I remember that each year our dear Emma has a hard time transitioning into school.  It began in about 1st grade and has not stopped.  Each year it manifests it's unsettling nature in a different manner.  For the first couple years we approached it with discipline because it was so out of character for her.  She is an even-keeled child.  She does not get really upset at much and is fairly obedient and respectful.  But the first month of school is always a struggle.  Once we finally clued in to this we just rode it out and prayed and encouraged.  One of the scriptures that we used with her the last two years was Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  In the context of being yoked with Jesus and walking in the sandals of peace doesn't this scripture take on a more intense meaning?  Emma would much rather stay home and not transition into school, just as we would rather not move forward because in our humanness that yoke is just too heavy.  He becomes our strength to move forward in the peace of our life yoked to him.

Walking in peace is knowing that we are on a journey to somewhere.  There is a reason for that period after being reminded to walk in the sandals of peace.  Being yoked we move, but we move forward in the knowledge that the burden is not ours to bear alone - that we have someone who is closer than a brother and who loves us more than anyone else even has the ability to love.
"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24
"...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
"..being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" is to walk in peace.  To know that he is our strength and is with us to move forward into the journey that he has for us.  Because he is with us.

As I begin to talk with Emma about the start of school and prep her little heart for another transition into school, I will pepper those moments with the peace of God and how much he loves her and the plans he has for her.  In the end, I want for her what He wants for her.  And I want her to want that also.  I want the Lord's purpose to prevail.
"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

Walking in the sandals of peace we experience the width, length, height and depth of God's love for us and our children and we can rest in all situations because he is our strength.

By His Grace