Peace

Jesus said, ‘I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid.’ (John 14:27)

Having both boys at home with me last week during my half-term was not peaceful in the green-pastures-quiet-waters kind of way. For example, I took Cameron with me to buy a pair of jeans, which he saw as, ‘Yay! Hide and seek!’ This was not a peaceful experience. He hurtled through the aisles of Mr Price and buried himself behind racks of hanging sweaters and t-shirts. Hilarious. At home, he spent hours dragging me, Scott or Maria – or all of us – into his tent, where he concocted various culinary delights for us to sample. He terrorised Scott, in a sort of loving, brotherly, let’s-see-if-cries-when-I-sit-on-him way. Scotty has taken to climbing out of his highchair and crawling across the dining room table. He also tipped out all Lola’s pellets, and seemed to prefer them to whatever Cam was cooking in the tent. Like I said, not peaceful.

Yet still, God’s peace – this gift he left with us – is mercifully woven into all the craziness, as we trust him for wisdom and for the lives of these growing little men who are beginning to push the Eldridge-type ‘wild at heart’ boundaries (and general health and safety regulations).

Cammy had his first theatre experience last week! My amazing Mom took a whole heap of her wriggling, noisy, excitable grandchildren (with me and Coral in tow) to see The Little Mermaid at the Irene Theatre. She’d called beforehand, and they allowed me backstage with Cam, to show him the sets and costumes up close. We sat right at the foot of the stage, and thanks to his video camera, some super bright costumes and fun fluorescent lights, he had a wonderful time. He did, however, have a recurring nightmare involving ‘very strange voices’ – no doubt those of the evil electric eel sidekicks, whom he couldn’t see (too dark) but whose voices left even the grownups a little chilled. We prayed, and God’s gift of peace was real for Cam, too, in the ensuing sound sleep.

I had a moment of peace with Scotty in the garden. We came across Lola sleeping in the sun. ‘Dada!’ he said quietly, happily.

‘Out of the freedom from worry that God's generosity provides comes an impulse toward simplicity rather than accumulation.’ – John Piper (FYI: This is just one of his latest tweets. Follow him if you’re on Twitter! Such insightful, encouraging stuff.)