Peace....in me

We had a really great Easter weekend. Not too busy, but still hung out with family and friends quite a bit. Rob had the great idea on Good Friday, for us to watch 'Narnia' as a family. It's a little intense and scary, but we knew Rory wouldn't stay attentive for longer than the first half hour, and we knew that Kier was ready to see a movie like this. Especially because of the fact that it was Easter and we were doing alot of explaining about Jesus dying and rising again---what better movie to watch then Narnia. It was just so amazing to watch him clue into how what Aslan did really resembled what Jesus did for us. He was very sad that they were going to kill aslan, and could hardly wait for him to come back to life. When he finally did come back to life, Kier had this huge smile on his face and he visibly relaxed in his body language.

After seeing him so visibly relieved, and myself being quite emotional after watching the movie, I got thinking why I was able to get emotional watching a fictious movie, yet struggled at how to internalize the gravity of what Jesus did for me...hence, the celebration of Easter.

So, over the Easter weekend, people kept making jokes about how the weather was more suited to Christmastime...and while I was processing the whole Easter thing, this 'Christmas' phrase kept echoing in my head: "Peace on earth."...as we know this was a phrase the angels said when Jesus was born. I then thought about what I saw on Kier's face when Aslan came back to life...then thought of why I had no issue with my child seeing a movie with scariness and meanness and an evil witch...because I knew Aslan was coming...I knew they would kill Aslan, but that he would also come back to life....and then I put all of these seemingly random thoughts together...

Jesus came to bring peace on earth--ie: peace in me. Kier's 'peace' didn't come from Aslan dying--anyone could've done that--it was in his coming to life again that he felt peace. I had peace letting my son watch the extreme evilness in the movie because the exact opposite--goodness and hope--were even that much more evident against such evilness.

And then I realized, that whenever I walk through my day choosing to feel anything other than the peace I've accepted, the peace that Jesus brought through his birth, life, and death...I am basically failing to recognize that that is the whole reason He came to die--so that, no matter what happens in my life I can have this peace...the peace on earth the angels sang about...the peace I have because he is alive. When I choose to live without acknowleding this peace...and choose to feel discontent, bitter, hurt, angry...it's like i'm saying to God, 'thanks but no thanks'...I don't want your peace...I think (insert thing/person here) will satisfy me more.

Now, unfortunately, I know that there will be millions more times in my life where I will choose to live in anything other than His peace, but I know I will never forget how, over this particular Easter season, I finally realized that His Peace is in me...I just need to acknowledge it and choose to live in it.