The Second Candle of Advent is Peace

I have a confession.  I don’t have a lot of peace during this season.  There is just so much to do and so much pressure to get it done in such a short amount of time.  Hope I can do but peace is hard to find.  The second Sunday of Advent rolled around and I started thinking about peace and what that is supposed to mean in our harried lives.  When am I supposed to find peace?

When I think about what it would be like to achieve perfect inner peace a mental picture of a yogi sitting atop a mountain comes to mind.  Legs crossed, thumb and middle fingers touching, calm face, deep breathing happening and third eye open to some other dimension.  I don’t know what it takes to achieve perfect inner peace but this picture; it’s not me.  In fact, that’s not anybody I know in real life.  At first that tranquility sounds wonderful.  What would it take to obtain a yogi level of peace?  I would have to remove myself from the stress of real life.  No carpool to drive, no errands to run, no deadlines, no grocery shopping plus three extra trips to the store for things I forgot.  Well, that’s not too bad.  But I would also have to excuse myself from my family too.  No little boys making fart jokes, no games of Hungry Hungry Hippos, no cuddles, no tickling and laughter.  No date night, no snuggling on the couch after the kids have gone to bed.  Nope, not willing to give any of that up.  No thank you.  That mountain top yogi is looking a little lonely now.

This is a hectic month, no doubt about it.  I can only think of one moment’s peace so far.  This week in the middle of the night my three year old came crying to my bed side because he had a bad dream.  I carried him back to bed and snuggled with him until he fell back asleep.  I lay there in the quiet, dark winter night listening to him sleep.  The feel and sound of that little breath puffing in and out against my cheek.  That, my friends, is peace.  It may not come often but in order to know peace we must also know chaos.

Peace may be elusive but it’s always there.  I just have to keep my eyes and heart open and I’ll take it where I can find it.  The second candle is lit and I’ll use it to light a path to these little moments of peace.