Living the Dash

You ever notice how the world keeps hollerin’ at us like one of those late-night infomercials? “If you just had THIS car, THIS phone, THIS perfect shade of lipstick, THEN you’d finally be happy!” Honey, please. I’ve bought the lipstick, and the only thing it changed was the rim of my tea glass.

For a long time, I thought peace came packaged in things. A new couch, a weekend getaway, maybe even a perfectly quiet morning with no one calling my name. But the truth? Those things are nice, but they don’t stick. They don’t sink down into your bones. They don’t change the restless thump of your heart at 2:00 a.m.

The peace I’m talking about, the peace that changes everything, is the kind that Jesus promised. He said in John 14:27:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

That right there is the good stuff. It’s a holy, unshakable, deep-down knowing that no matter what storm’s blowing, no matter what bill shows up in the mailbox, no matter what heartbreak has broken you in half; you can still say, “It is well with my soul.”

And once you get a taste of that kind of peace? Oh goodness… it changes your whole outlook. Suddenly, you don’t want more, you want less. You don’t need every shiny new thing because you’ve found something better. You stop striving, stop clenching your fists around the things you can’t control, and start breathing easier.

Real, true peace has a way of decluttering your soul. It shifts your wants, reshapes your needs, and helps you see what really matters. And spoiler alert: it ain’t that fancy throw pillow you’ve been eyeing at Hobby Lobby (though I know she’s cute).

Peace is not the absence of chaos; it’s the presence of Christ right smack in the middle of it. That’s why it’s so valuable. That’s why it’s worth more than all the stuff in the world you can pile into your shopping cart. Because when you’ve got Him, you’ve already got everything.

So today, I pray you’ll choose peace over possessions, calm over clutter, and Jesus over “just one more thing.” Because friend, the value of peace is priceless.