Chaos and Peace

                “Lord, why is it so hard for us to find You? There is chaos everywhere where You are not. It seems so simple; find a quiet peaceful place and there we will find You. It doesn’t have to be an actual place. In Your omnipresence, you are in everything everywhere at the same time. Even people can hold Your presence within themselves, therefore, a simple conversation with them that brings us peace and joy, reveals Your beautiful presence. If pulling weeds and turning dirt in the garden brings us great peace, then we have discovered You in the very plants and earth You created. Because You are everywhere, we can find You anywhere.

                “Chaos forms in the absence of You. Genesis tells us that in the beginning, ‘earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters (Genesis 1:1-2).’ It was chaos. Then You started creating things in an orderly fashion – You created order out of that chaos and formed the light, the sky, the earth and ordered all the living things within earth. When we ignore Your presence and focus on how we perceive and order things, chaos forms and our precepts and structures fail, both physical and mental. It’s like trying to walk in the streets of a large city during morning or evening rush hour. People are so focused on themselves that they walk quickly and forcefully right into you as you try to navigate your way through the crowd. The car horns are honking, crime may be occurring – from a bird’s eye view, it looks like chaos.

                “Yet somewhere amidst this chaos, there may be a little child kneeling by a bed humbly asking for something in prayer – Lord, You are there. There may be someone serving a meal with warmth and compassion to the poor and homeless – Lord, You are there. There may be someone praying outside an abortion clinic, amidst taunts and jeers, for the expectant mothers to reconsider allowing the precious life You created to continue – Lord, You are there. There may be a son or daughter gently holding the hand of a sick or dying parent in the hospital – Lord, You are there. There may even be a person in the sea of people walking in the streets who makes eye contact with those passing by and cheerfully says hello – Lord, You are there. The stock exchange, the malls, the bars, the drunk and murderous thieves – here there is chaos. Your presence can still be uncovered even in these places, but it takes prayer and transformation to replace that chaos with Your peace.

                “Help me Lord to always seek peace. Help me to look harder in the chaos to find You. Help me to move through this world recognizing the peace and order You originally created within the utter chaos of nothingness at the beginning. May I breathe in Your presence and exhale Your peace.”