“For unto us a child is born”, the Prince of Peace.
Christ is the ultimate Prince of Peace. While we celebrate that every year during Christmas, it can seem difficult to understand how we can truly have peace in our lives.
Most people will say that peace can only come when there isn’t war. Or when you focus on yourself. They will say that there is no way you will find peace in difficulty.
I believe this is wrong. Peace can always come. Those who believe in Christ say that when you follow him, peace can come to you. While I believe the same thing, I also believe that if you don’t follow Christ you can come very close to having peace.
When you are debating between two sides, it is usually helpful to look at both sides and see what they have to offer. Because of this, I will talk about what others say versus what Christ says. Keep in mind, if you don’t believe in Christ then I will offer ways to try to have peace.
Peace Can Only Come From the Absence of War.
The sad reality of our world is that we tend to have more war than peace. If peace can only come from an absence of war then peace would be impossible to find. Thankfully, there is a story of a time when in the midst of war, there were soldiers who laid down their weapons on Christmas and had peace.
It was during the night on Christmas Eve when British soldiers started hearing Germans sing. It was uncommon to hear singing on the battlefield and so they asked around.
The Germans were singing Christmas carols. The British were delighted. All of a sudden, the Germans were telling the British, “come here.” The British were hesitant but agreed as long as the Germans would come halfway.
They did and soon both were singing and talking like they had been friends this whole time. It became the day in history where countries that had fought with each other had peace in their hearts.
This not only shows that you can have peace in the absence of war but you can also have peace in war.
I bet you anything that when the next day came and they had to fight again, it was harder. They grew to love each other and then they fought more out of reluctance then of nationality.
If you want to read more about that night, click here.
Peace Comes When You Focus on Your Needs.
When I am reading a blog post on how to find inner peace, I usually see that most of what they ask you to work on has to do with yourself and decluttering your life.
That is important. When you have a decluttered life, it can help with other parts of your life as well.
The first thing it suggests is that you set limits. When you set limits it can help place boundaries onto things that are important while placing the ones that aren’t important on the back burner.
It will also suggest relaxing. I am guilty of trying over and over to control what I can’t and can do that I have developed gritting my teeth as a way to relieve stress. When I do yoga or when I meditate it can help with relieving that stress and I can go on to do the things that I need to do.
Another thing she says to do, which will be the last I mention, is accepting what’s happened and let it go (insert Frozen song here).
Relieving the past over and over can have a toll. I have been working with my therapist in order to truly learn what happened in my past and let it go. It has been a tough process but I can’t wait for when I can finally just let go of what happened.
Working on yourself is good. I won’t say that it isn’t. But I think you’ll find that it isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. And I don’t think you’ll achieve peace through it.
Read the article here.
Peace Doesn’t Come in Times of Difficulty.
This one may be half true depending on how you look at it. In my belief, peace can come in difficult times but it is difficult.
As I have mentioned in the past, I have depression. It is something that I deal with every day. While I may not feel the full effect of it I know that it can be hard to have peace. Especially around Christmas time.
I am not the only person to have gone through trials. There have been people before who have struggled to maintain hope and peace.
One person, trapped in a cellar in a concentration camp had so much difficulty. They weren’t getting the nutrition they needed, they were working so hard it could have killed them, and anyone would have lost hope.
This one person wrote this poem.
“I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there’s no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when he is silent.
I believe through any trial,
there is always a way
But sometimes in this suffering
and hopeless despair
My heart cries for shelter,
to know someone’s there
But a voice rises within me, saying hold on
my child, I’ll give you strength,
I’ll give you hope. Just stay a little while.
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love
even when there’s no one there
But I believe in God
even when he is silent
I believe through any trial
there is always a way.
May there someday be sunshine
May there someday be happiness
May there someday be love
May there someday be peace….”
This one-person shows that while it can be difficult to have peace in our lives, it is possible to still maintain hope for that future.
You may read this poem as well as others about hope here.
The Prince of Peace is Always With Us.
Christ has done so much to help us when we need help. He is constantly there to show us the way. When we falter or when we fail, He picks us up to the point where we can feel peace. That is why He is the Prince of Peace.
When we follow Christ we can not only have peace but we also gain an understanding of those around us so we can help them come to Christ to gain peace themselves.
We can follow him through service to those around us, reading His story through the scriptures, and being a peacemaker in our own homes as well as in others.
When we try to bring ourselves to our Prince of Peace we will be able to have true peace. This peace will not only last throughout Christmas, but throughout any trial that we may find ourselves in.
Merry Christmas. May you have the peace of Christ in your home.
