Half Dome from North Dome in Yosemite National Park, California
The past couple weeks (part 1 and part 2), I’ve been discussing finding peace in the place where God calls us. There is a tremendous peace in being in the place God has called us to be.
Metate Arch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
Something I have known for a long time but am still learning (it works that way sometimes!) is that you can be the best place you ever wanted to dream of, but if God wants you somewhere else, the goodness of the place dims considerably.
“Dragon’s Back” near Himes Peak in the Flat Tops Wilderness of Colorado
On the other hand, you can also be, by the direction and call of God, in a place that, to the human eye, is a terrible place to be, and yet have peace and not want to be anywhere else, just because God has given you the call to be in that place.
Views near Camp Cannonville, Utah
I’ve seen it happen in the wilderness: I’ll be in a beautiful place, but because God has called me elsewhere, the peace and enjoyment I’m used to experiencing in a place so beautiful as this just isn’t there. I can still call it beautiful, still enjoy it, still find the joy in that place, but quite honestly, I’d rather be in a place that wasn’t quite so beautiful but that God had called me to be.
“Clothespin Tree” in the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias, Yosemite National Park, California
Or, like on our last trip, God told us to take a specific trail. We weren’t in good shape for it; in fact, climbing that high in elevation a couple days earlier had just about done some of us in, physically speaking – we just weren’t up to the challenge. But that trail that God called us to do ended up high on our “favorites” list because 1) it was a beautiful, pleasant hike, but 2) because God was there, and that makes everything more enjoyable – whether the views are up to par with the last hike or not.
Views from Gold Hill, New Mexico
And then there are the times when God has called you to a place, but the peace still isn’t there. It’s happened, even as recently as on our last trip. At that point, we have a choice: we can live there, anyway, without the peace, or we can call down the peace of God; be living peace.
Arches in Peek-a-Boo Slot, Utah
As current ministers are apt to say, “We aren’t thermometers of the current temperature [conditions of peace]; we’re thermostats because we set the temperature [conditions of peace] around us.”
Waterfall on the Clouds Rest Trail, Yosemite National Park, California
Cute saying, not so easy in reality. But it’s a reality that when we are called to a place, we can experience peace and even bring greater peace to the place that God has called us to be.
Coming down off the Flat Tops along the Causeway Loop, Colorado
One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23) is peace. With the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we can be peace every place we go – in the wilderness, in our current situations, in ever place we go.
