Four Things That Bring Peace

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” — Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)

Everyone wants peace: peace inside, peace at home, peace with friends. Thomas thought a lot about where it comes from and why we lose it.

In Book I he gives a diagnosis that might surprise you: “We should enjoy much peace if we did not concern ourselves with what others say and do, for these are no concern of ours.” A lot of our stress comes from things that aren’t ours to manage.

Then, in Book III, Christ gives the disciple a short recipe for peace. It is only four lines long:

“Seek, child, to do the will of others rather than your own. Always choose to have less rather than more. Look always for the last place and seek to be beneath all others. Always wish and pray that the will of God be fully carried out in you.”

Let’s put those into everyday words. One: be willing to go along with what others want, rather than always needing your own way. Two: don’t always grab for more, the bigger piece, the extra, the latest thing. Three: don’t fight for the front, the spotlight, the top spot. Four: want God’s will more than anything else.

This isn’t about being a doormat or never having an opinion. It is about letting go of the constant pushing that wears us out: pushing to win, to have, to be first. Jesus said the last will be first, and that he came not to be served but to serve. Thomas is just turning that into four habits.

The disciple’s reply is honest: “This brief discourse of Yours contains much perfection. It is short in words but full of meaning.” And then: “For as often as I find myself troubled and dejected, I find that I have departed from this teaching.”

That is a useful test. Next time you feel stressed and unsettled, check the four. Are you insisting on your own way? Grabbing for more? Fighting for first place? Wanting your will over God’s? Very often, Thomas found, that is where the peace went.

He adds a prayer for when your head is full of bad thoughts that you can pray word for word: “O Lord my God, be not far from me. O my God, hasten to help me.”

One thing to do this week: each evening this week, look back over the day with the four things in mind. Where did you insist on your own way, grab for more, or push to be first? Tell God about it, and ask for his peace.