Advent: Week 2 - Peace
- Joy Bartholomew
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Peace: The Quiet That Holds Everything Together
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
We have been the keepers of peace for decades—wiping tears at 2 a.m., smoothing over arguments at Thanksgiving, swallowing our own hurts so the holidays could stay “nice.” We learned early that if Mama isn’t okay, nobody is okay. And so we carried the weight of everyone’s calm in our own bones.
But Jesus never asked us to manufacture peace for the whole world. He simply offered His own.
The night He was born, heaven announced “peace on earth,” yet within hours His parents were fleeing for their lives. The Prince of Peace spent His first night as a refugee. That tells us something crucial: His peace is not the same as safety, silence, or everyone finally getting along. His peace is a Person who stays when the soldiers are coming, when the doctor’s words are hard, when the family group text explodes again.
This Advent, try a new kind of peacemaking: stop trying to fix everything for ten quiet minutes each day. Sit in your favorite chair with a cup of tea or coffee, open your hands, and let the silence come. Read the words of Jesus slowly: “My peace I give you.” Let them settle over the worries you usually carry alone—the grown child who’s struggling, the marriage that feels distant, the friend who’s facing loss.
Picture Mary holding her newborn Son in the middle of chaos, trusting that the God who brought them this far would carry them further. That same peace is holding you now. It doesn’t shout over the noise; it lives underneath it, steady as a heartbeat.
When the season feels too busy, remember: you are not the source of peace for your family. You are invited to receive it, to let it flow through you like a quiet river. Light the second candle slowly. Breathe in. Breathe out. The Prince of Peace is nearer than the next heartbeat.
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