Did I mention yesterday that re-entry can be rough?
Well, just in case you missed it: O MY STARS re-entry is brutal! Where are those endorphins we surely built up after all that resting in the sun, swimming in the impossibly blue water, reading wonderful books, and laughing and sharing with dear friends and family? hmm, somehow, our vacation seems like a million miles away and a million years ago.
But re-entry doesn't just rear it's ugly head only after vacations. Noooo... how about after a hard-fought victory, or a mountain-top experience, or a marvelous break-through with an intractable problem, or a mending of a relationship. Anytime we feel like we have overcome or arrived or achieved or accomplished, well then, it's time to be prepared for the roller coaster of re-entry and the inevitable downhill plunge.
And the result can be crippling discouragement. Or doubt. Maybe even despair. We forget all about the glorious mountain top we've just enjoyed when plunged into John Bunyan's "Valley of Despond."
Gracious, how quickly we can lose perspective. Just today, it was a disappointing test result for one of my children who had missed four days of school to go on our wonderful trip. Sure, it was worth it. We said over and over and over again how thrilled we were that we decided to take him. We went on and on about how we'd all never forget this marvelous time together.
But then, mercy, here comes re-entry. Bless his heart--our son's been trying so hard to catch back up, but he has multiple tests, make-up work, a project to present, and all on top of having missed critical days of school. And I can feel the tension and fear mounting--both in his little heart as well as in mine. He suffered deep disappointment, and well, mama just suffered.
Because here's the sad truth: our (or at least my) default mode is not worship but worry. Not trusting faith but fear. Not overflowing gratitude but overwhelmed grumbling. And not hoping in Christ but hurting in our circumstances.
Boy, I am such an incurably slow learner, but at least I've finally figured out that rather than marinate in my worries, I need to soak in His Word. So I opened His never-failing Word to the chapter we are studying this week in Bible study, John 20. And this is what I read: "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you." (John 20:19-21)
"Peace be with you"--the first words out of His mouth to the disciples. And He repeats it again... and again when He appears to the disciples and "doubting" Thomas eight days later: "Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then He said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve but believe." (John 20:26-27)
And I think back to John 16:33-34, right before His crucifixion, when Jesus declared "I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
We can have peace, because Jesus stands among us and within us. He gives His peace and He is our peace. The world may be falling apart around you, life may be out of control, but if the Prince of Peace resides in you, you have peace. Perfect supernatural peace that the world cannot give and does not know.
Because His peace comes from who He is and what He did. It struck me that both times Jesus commands peace be with the disciples, and then He immediately shows them His wounded hands and side. His peace is associated with His wounds, with His death on the cross for us.
"With His wounds we are healed," the prophet Isaiah tells us.
His wounds for our worry. His stripes for our sorrow. His piercing for our pain.
And so we have the choice--worry and fret and wallow in our disappointments... or hand Him our fears and have faith that He is sufficient for anything and everything we will ever face. Give Him our disappointments and trust that He who overcame the world will enable us to overcome as well. Exchange our pity-parties for praise-parties of the One who died for our sin and who is now, even at this very moment, ALIVE. Just as alive at this day and hour and year as He was with the disciples 2000 years ago--the eternal "I Am." And our eternal I Am is our Prince of Peace.
So re-entry or not, mountain-top or valley--He is risen, He is able, He is eternally worthy... and He is our perfect Peace. To God, our Prince of Peace, be the glory.
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