“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9)
Dearest Daughters
Peace is not merely the absence of noise or conflict. It is the deep tranquility that comes when design is at work—as it is in art or music. Think of a choir where every voice blends, or a symphony where each instrument plays the same piece in tune. In this kind of design, no one is in one corner plunking out “Yankee Doodle” while someone else is singing a heartfelt “How Great Thou Art.” The notes, the rhythm, the harmonies all come together as one. Design is peace.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9). It is not a peripheral thing to be called His children! To truly belong in His house forever, we must learn to make peace. We must walk into every circumstance asking ourselves, how can I bring peace?
I remember a time not long after I married your dad. He was working long hours and pouring himself into a music project for the community fair. I was home with two little ones, feeling weary, and sometimes anxious about how much he was gone. My frustration came out in little nibbling questions:
“What’s going on, honey?”
“Did you realize dinner’s getting cold?”
“Did it really take that long?”
Finally, I burst out, “This schedule isn’t sustainable. What’s going to happen when our kids are teenagers?”
Your dad just smiled at our toddlers and said, “Thankfully, that’s a long way off. We don’t have any teenagers.” I didn’t yet understand times and seasons.
Later, I confided my concerns in my friend Angie. I expected commiseration, but she gave me a piece of wisdom that I’ve found very helpful instead. She said she used to feel the same way when her husband came home tired and distracted. She would pepper him with questions, thinking it would draw him out, but it only pushed him further away. Then she said God showed her: “Make an environment of peace when he comes home. Don’t add to his anxiety.”
So she started trying to think of things, even small things. She started by quieting the house and preparing his favorite snack. She’d settle the children and have them in their jammies, so they could have story time with Daddy. She’d offer a shoulder rub. She said, “When peace came in, everything I wanted in my relationship began to grow. My own anxiety had been excluding me from what was going on in his heart and mind. But creating peace drew us together.”
That conversation changed my way of thinking. I began to make every effort to create a home where peace could exist. I wasn’t trying to pretend that everything was always fine, but I wanted to be one of the blessed—a peacemaker, a true daughter of God! I wanted Daddy to want to come home, because it was a home and haven. So I needed to make my home a sanctuary.
That made a huge difference! And guess what? In the seasons that followed, including your teenage years, there has always been time and grace for the right balance of relationships and tasks in our home. Life moves through seasons, so we can’t judge the entire future on the moment and challenges that we’re in right now. And through it all, I also realized that wherever there is strife and anxiety, God does not speak. His voice is silenced in chaos and worry, but is heard in the stillness of peace.
The apostle Paul writes, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control . . . . If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (Gal. 5:22–26).
Recognizing the times and seasons and honoring the design of relationship brings peace. And peace brings the Father into the home.
So I encourage you to let His peace first reign within your own hearts, and then let it spill outward into your home and relationships. The Father’s song is always being played, but it’s our part to find the rhythm, to fit into the notes, and to live in tune with Him. When we live in His harmony, we will be peacemakers and know the blessing of being called His children.
With all my love,
Mom