Inner Peace Found in Watermelons
written by: Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“There life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. ”
Even the wealthiest person you know struggles with frustrations beyond their control. The right job, a suitable income, and impressive friends and family will not bring you peace-filled control of your life. Your peace and inner calm come from within. Inner peace is not as simple as making a decision. Calming peace comes through a change of daily, intentional practices.
Peace is more accessible at certain times in life and more difficult in others, but achievable at any moment if we focus. Our daughter is at a challenging time in finding moments for herself. She and her husband have very active kids, 4 and 6. They’ve committed to involve their boys in numerous activities so they can learn, experience, and figure out what they want from their future. Additionally, she and her husband have demanding careers with high expectations. They also have family expectations that come with having a good relationship with both sides of their extended family. When do they have time to breathe, let alone find time for inner peace? Many of you or your family are at a similar point in life.
First, name quiet moments as sacred times. At the end of the day, since early in my parenthood, I would lay in bed, focus my breathing, and bask in the silence I hadn’t experienced earlier. One thing my daughter taught me was to make an ordinary activity sacred. The same child who intentionally mowed the lawn in swirly lines just to escape outdoor chores now has her own raised garden. She and her younger son garden together, and they talk and spend quiet time planting, weeding, and celebrating the growth in their fruits and vegetables. The sacred comes in the Holy Spirit, nurturing mother/son time, but the two of them also focus on what John P. Weiss says in his article “Change the World Within You,” “Dwell on the beauty of life.” God speaks to their inner peace by allowing them to play in God’s creation, experienced in their raised garden. Our extended family shared the sweetest-tasting watermelons from their garden, and the rest of us shared the joy of their shared creation.
According to Weiss, we should stop “chasing the wrong things” and begin experiencing meaningful things on our terms. Recognizing the wrong things we are chasing is more work in the short term. We don’t have enough time and are now asked to take more time for evaluation. Sit down, pray for the Spirit’s supportive guidance, and review each work and family demand. Ask how the activity benefits you, your work, or your significant others. Then ask, “If I didn’t do it, or stopped doing it, what would be the result?” What else could I or my significant others do with that time? Answering those questions begins renewal by blessing the necessary and purging what is unnecessary. Weiss closes his article with a quote by George Eliot, “It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses, we must plant more roses.” Deciding what roses or watermelons you want to plant will help bring inner peace back to your busy life.
