One Practice to Bring Peace to Your Out-of-Control World

Before 2020 the yearly average number of investigated incidents with unruly passengers on airlines was 143.

In 2021, just since January 1st, there have been 3,715 reports of unruly passengers investigated.

As a friend of ours says, “All the fuzz has worn off.”

We’re raw, easily bumped and bruised and offended.

Because we have all been dealing with so much, we are less likely to feel we have the capacity to extend grace, to expect the best, to submit to others for the greater good.

I think our angry, anxious, defensive posture may be rooted in an underlying feeling of not being safe – so much is out of our control.

I’m with you. This has been an incredibly stressful week. I find myself going back over and over to a practice that helps me. Maybe it will help you too.

First, close your eyes and breathe deeply.

Imagine that you are standing next to a wide, rushing mountain stream, filled with boulders.

You hop from rock to rock until you get to the middle of the stream where there is a huge boulder that has a shallow smooth dip in it, almost like a seat has been carved out for you.

You sit on the boulder watching the water rushing by on all sides.

The rapids represent all the circumstances that threaten to overwhelm you, carry you away, pull you under. But you are safe and secure on the rock.

As you rest there, secure, when worries come to mind, you release them into the water and let it carry them away for now.

You remind yourself of this.

Find rest my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.

Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:5-8

There is something settling, reassuring to me about the boulder I choose to sit on over and over through my day. Are there practices that are helpful to you in this stressful season?