Come and Find the Quiet Center

Today has been an extraordinarily peaceful day.  Part of this comes from the snow that blankets everything.  This white covering on the ground, the streets and walks, the roofs is magical because it is so unusual in our area.  We only see such a snow once every two or three winters, as a rule, and it seldom stays on the ground more than a day.  The cold is promised to stay for several days, so we will get to enjoy this beauty for much longer than normal.  We marvel that the snow brightens the night and dampens the noises that we usually hear.

I have been thinking about peace--peace in my life, peace in our society, peace in the world, peace in southern Sudan--for the past couple of days.  The poem by Shirley E. Murray from which this post title comes contains these words:

clear the chaos and the clutter,

clear our eyes, that we can see

all the things that really matter,

be at peace, and simply be.

If we can "simply be," we are at peace, and that peace surrounds us, touching all those with whom we come in contact.  Clearing the chaos and clutter, so that with clear eyes i can see the things that really matter, is at the heart of finding the transforming mindfulness that allows me to "be," sensing the presence of God everywhere and at all times.

Today one of the blogs that i follow faithfully, tinybuddha, offered a post that began with this quote: “Peace is not merely a distant goal we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.  A second post on the same blog was written by Natalie Smith.  If we are to have peace in the world, peace in our society, it must begin with each of us, and we must relish those moments of peace just as Natalie describes her special moment.  Only then will evils like the recent shooting in Tuscon become a distant memory.

My prayer for myself and for you is that we find the quiet center that allows us to have peace in our lives and in the world.