Peace I Give to You…

So an amazing thing (to me) happened the other day. I was coordinating a wedding, and the rehearsal and ceremony was this past Friday and Saturday. All through the preparation, the bride was pretty laid back and even keeled. The week of the wedding, the pastor officiating became deathly ill, and she had some major problems with her thesis work up until the eve of the rehearsal. Needless to say she was a little keyed up. Not a lot, but those things were quite unsettling. Anyway we got through decorating and the rehearsal, and the bridal party left en masse for the dinner. It wasn’t the most stressful time I’ve had, but I was glad to get some breathing time. The bride called me saying she left some stuff at the church, and she sounded wound up. She came back and got her stuff, and I just took one look at her and grabbed her for a hug. My thinking was that I couldn’t offer her anything any more than a physical support to everything she was going through. When she finally stepped back, her eyes went wide, and she kind of breathed a surprised wow. I’m like, what happened? She said she felt an incredible amount of peace when I hugged her, a peace that just flowed over her. Really? Are you kidding me? But no, I saw her leave much calmer than she had been all evening.

So what was that all about? Random thoughts rushed through my head, and the second thought that I grabbed onto was that part in Lord of the Rings when Lady Arwyn was taking Frodo to her father, and he was fading fast. As she held him, she declared something like, “Let the grace given to me pass unto you.” Not word for word, but that hit me kind of hard. But the first thing, and the most recurring thing that I thought of was that verse somewhere in the Brit Chadasha, or New Testament, where it says something like, “Peace I give to you, but not as the world gives.” God has given me peace, an incredible amount of peace. After going through some earth shattering trials, and some soul and spirit wrenching healing, I’ve come through with the knowledge the Jesus is my Everything, and nothing else. What I didn’t know is how I could relay that, how I could share it. But as I looked at that bride to be who was totally transformed by a simple hug, I knew that God was taking care of that, spreading that peace He’d given me to others, just by me doing what I do, “doing the daily”, as my brother says.

So the next day, as I’m taking care of the little details, I check in on the bride in her preparation room every now and then, and at one point in time, everyone was dispatched elsewhere, and I just chatted with her about nothing and everything. Someone came back and wanted to see how she was doing, sure she would be a little uptight and nervous, but she just smiled and sat back and told the other girl that she was just relaxing and enjoying the peace I brought with me. I can’t begin to explain how amazing that seems to me, but how much that encourages me.

So, may I bless you with that same peace? In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Blessing upon you, and let the Peace that passes all understanding invade your hearts and minds.