Peace Like a River…

 Sometimes the popular phrases of life are perplexing to me.  I have no idea where “Raining Cats and Dogs” came from, or what it means to be “snug as a bug in a rug.”  Such phrases sure are commonly used, even if their meanings are somewhat enigmatic.  Several popular Christian songs and hymns refer to the condition of having “Peace like a River.”  Peaceful river??  We can’t be serious!  I’ve never seen one!  By very definition, a river is turbulent.  If it was characterized at all by anything remotely resembling peace, we’d call it a pond or lake.  But even in the Bible it is described just so, “For this is what the LORD says: "I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream” (Isaiah 66:12)  Confusing?  It was to me until I began to ponder exactly what happens in a river.  Water flows from whatever source feeds the river, and it travels along the path of least resistance, winding and weaving… slowly in places, and forming whitecaps and waves in others.  A river is not the image of peace at all…. until… it arrives.  When a river joins lake or ocean, the turbulent water rushes into the bigger pool and finds peace.  It no longer is required to rush over the rocks and around the tree stumps.  It can now be at rest.  How like us.  True peace awaits us at our destination, if our destination is where Jesus is.  Our lives are the river in motion aren’t they?  They are turbulent, rushing, and characterized by motion.  Our challenge continues to be to look up and see the destination, anticipating the peace that will be ours when the journey is complete, and to not expect too much of it until then.  Even though the “peace like a river” is not always in my grasp, it is always in my future... and yours.  Think on that and pause to give thanks to the One who is both the Source and the Destination for our river of our lives.  What a wonderful God we serve!