Peace not Perfection – part 4

BE the peace!

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you…

‘If’ Rudyard Kiplin

We have a phrase in Yorkshire (I’m sure it’s used else where but I think it’s best said in a Yorkshire accent!) ‘crack on’; it basically means ‘roll your sleeves up woman and get on with it’! It’s a great phrase to use when you’re in the thick of it, up to your eyes in mess, stuff and things – you just gotta ‘crack on’ and get through!

Sometimes we just have to ‘get on with it’ don’t we? You got up too late to make your list for the day, you forgot to get the meat out of the freezer, you’ve run out of milk, the baby is  throwing up and you’ve just washed your husband’s white shirt with a red sock – whoops!

Do you crawl into a hole? Sink into a chair? Run to your mother? NO –  You take a deep breath, lift up your head and crack on! This is what the bible says:

God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. Matt 5:9

We’ve discussed in previous posts how we can pursue peace, create it and seek it out – here I want to encourage you to BE the peace in your home, in your family and in your community. Work for peace and when you’re having ‘one of those days’ there it will be, you’ll plunge into the well of peace within you and walk in the blessing of God.

My children (and their parents!) are far from perfect but I daily work on being peace to them where ever we go. We have strict ‘supermarket’ rules (no asking for things, stay by the trolley, go to the toilet before we start etc…), we’ve had these rules for years but I still get the children to recite them to me as we’re walking from the car to the supermarket door. These rules create a peaceful supermarket trip and I usually get comments like “wow – you’re so chilled shopping with 4 children, I can’t even take my 1 child to the supermarket with me”, “Aren’t they good/helpful/happy” – I smile, agree/nod/chat, then thank and encourage my children. There are many area’s of our life that we haven’t got ‘down’ so well but I’m encouraged that it IS achievable and peace (not perfection) can be achieved in the ‘chaotic’ areas of life!

And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:18

Mothers need to be peacemakers, we need to daily sow seeds of peace in our homes.

As we sow seeds of peace when our days are ‘steady’ we’ll reap peace when the crazy days roll in.

Let’s be the peace in our homes mothers and ‘crack on’ with our noble calling! There’s no job like it!

The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. Is 32:17

If you’ve missed the previous parts to this series you can catch up here: 

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3