The Art of Peace, the Craft of Release

SABBATH involves the practice of shalom; that distinguished peace that pervades our being.  My best Sabbath is practiced at the beach, alone, with a refreshment and a book with blank pages and a pen.  Just as close is a being still in lush vegetation, especially where there’s a view, for where there’s a view there’s perspective.

Sabbath is about perspective — the reclamation; the resurrection; the redemption.

Sabbath is the reclamation of our soul’s centred peace.  It’s the resurrection of our tired and worn out bodies and minds.  It’s redemption when we thought redemption would never come.

Sabbath is about less in a world that convinces us to want more.  It’s about the art of peace through the craft of release.

The more we have, the more need we have of control. The more control we need, the less peace we have. Peace comes readily when we regularly let go.

These are the theses for a life that promises so much that when we do much we experience less peace.  There is a classic reverse correlation.  More is less.  More content in our lives means less actual spiritual content; less peace.

The art of peace is the craft of release.

The difficult thing in our world is getting away from it every now and then.

And if we hold to the idea that out of peace comes thankfulness, enough to be grateful, which infuses joy, and propels us forward in hope, then we’re impelled to take our opportunities to refresh, renew, and revitalise.

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So, the art of peace is the craft of release.

The more we’re able to let go, the more peace we’re able to receive, as a product of losing our lives to save them — the gospel principle that our Lord Jesus taught us.

And that’s the only difficult part in making an art of peace by the craft of release — we just don’t want to let go.  There are still too many good things to do.  But many good things to do make too much of those good things.  And anything good taken too far becomes bad.

We were never designed to be able to cope with too much coming in.

We have to make a choice — some of those good things have to go.  We don’t have the time, energy, inspiration or any other resource we need to do all the good things we see that could be done.

The art of peace is the craft of release.

© 2015 Steve Wickham.