Can There Be Peace in the Summertime?

IM000195.JPG“They look so peaceful sleeping. Don’t they?” I remember speaking these words to my wife about our children. After praying, we lay them down to sleep and they sure look peaceful. It almost makes you forget the rest of the day; almost.

If you have any experience with children, you know what I am talking about. From morning to evening, there is only word that comes to my mind: chaos! It is one fight to another, one toy to another, one topic to another, and plenty of not listening to go along with it. During the summer we can send them outside to wear off some energy, but they always seem to find more.

Children remind us of who we truly are: we are children! We are God’s children. As our Heavenly Father tells us and teaches us what and how we are to live with each other, we act just like children. We go from one fight to another, from one toy to another, from one topic to another, and we don’t always listen to Him either. Many times during the summer, we take a break from God’s Word. We are absent in churches. We are absent in His Scriptures and then we wonder why our children we don’t’ care. We fail to raise our children in God’s Word. We fail to teach them the importance of God’s Word by failing to be in worship and Bible Study ourselves. We don’t teach them that is it important, and then when they are older, we ask the question, “Why?” Why don’t my children think God’s Word is important? How come my children don’t know the basic Bible stories? Why do they fight and act just wild at the town celebration? Well, how do we teach and what do we teach by our actions? Before we come down on our children, we must remember who raised them and how they were raised.

Yet, among our sinning and fighting, we have forgiveness. We teach our own kids that they need to forgive each other, and then live in peace. We have been forgiven by God through the blood of Christ, and we are free to live in peace with each other. We live in peace until we fall asleep in faith. There we hear these words again, “They sure look peaceful. Don’t they?” Jesus has said “You faith has saved you, go in peace.” (Luke 7:50) These words we hear from the mouths of our Pastors. These words we should hear from each other, and more importantly live with each other. Yes, we will not always get along, but we still live in love. After all, we are kids. May you enjoy this summer and don’t forget to take care of your children both physically and spiritually. In the chaos, may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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