Christmas Countdown: Peace

(The Kind That Passes Understanding)

Hi, everyone!

Peace. I find it both incredibly ironic and incredibly appropriate that I would discuss the topic of peace after the week of chaos that I have had this week. Seriously, I’ve dealt with sickness, death rumors, traffic jams, toe jams, late nights, early mornings, Christmas gifts being delayed, and a whole bunch of general useless drama.

But that is the way of the Christmas season, isn’t it? We sing songs about silent nights, peace on Earth, and Goodwill toward men, and yet so often don’t experience any of those things in the days leading up to Christmas. Instead we are distracted, irritable, and constantly frustrated by the never-ending to-do list that surrounds the holidays. Well, okay, you might not be distracted by such things, but I am. I mean, let's face it, my goodwill towards men goes right out the window the second I pull onto the freeway.

One of my greatest frustrations is this future hope of peace on Earth because in order for Earth as a whole to experience peace, each individual in it has to first be at peace. That has never happened in the history of mankind and will never happen so long as each of us are at war within ourselves. So with that in mind let’s talk about what peace actually means and how to actually attain it.

What Peace Actually Means

When we think of peace we usually think of the absence of conflict. No fighting, no stress, no problems. Everything being still and quiet and calm.
But that isn’t what biblical peace means. The Hebrew word for peace is Shalom, and it means more than just the absence of conflict. It means wholeness and completeness—everything in its right place. In a practical sense it means that you are okay even when circumstances aren’t.
Let me repeat that: peace isn’t about your circumstances being okay—it’s about you being okay in the midst of whatever circumstances you’re facing. It is an internal and eternal reality that isn’t dependent upon external conditions.

The Prince of Peace and the First Christmas

When we read about the birth of Jesus Christ who is called the Prince of Peace in the Bible, the first thing that we read in Luke 2 is that the great Roman emperor Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world to count all of its people. Believe it or not, this specific idea is our first clue into attaining real peace because Caesar himself decided to bring order out of the chaos by counting his people. You can’t have peace unless you are willing to put in the work to order the chaos.

The strange thing about this passage is the fact that we read next that Jesus’s mother Mary gave birth to him and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Caesar’s decree meant to bring order to chaos actually caused chaos in Jesus’s life because he was not born in his own home but was born in a foreign town so overpopulated at the time because of the census that he didn’t even have a bed where he could sleep! When one person tries to correct chaos without understanding the implications of that act, it can cause chaos for others. So the Prince of Peace was born in the midst of chaos: personal, familial, regional, and temporal. His very birth was heralded by a convergence between heaven and Earth in which highborn angels decreed to lowborn shepherds that Jesus the Savior had come.

Anytime we seek to disrupt the status quo, chaos will always surround the act.

For my part this week, I willfully sought the peace and quiet of my study this morning because I wanted to spend time with the Lord God before anything else happened. To do that, I canceled meetings, turned my phone on silent, and simply sat—being willfully still, asking for God’s presence, and waiting for him to faithfully show up in the midst of my chaos. In the process of waiting, a thousand thoughts each more distracting than the last paraded through my mind. How was I going to get done all of the things that needed to get done? None of that mattered as soon as the first holy whisper came.

I’ve learned over the years that distraction is one letter away from destruction. If I allow distractions to derail my focus it means the destruction of my purpose. Distraction is the enemy of Peace. God is a god of order, not chaos. We say this in I Kings 19 when Elijah flees for his life to escape Ahab and Jezebel’s revenge after he killed the prophets of the false god Baal.

God comes to Elijah as he is seeking refuge in a cave on the mountain of Horeb, and commands him to go out of the cave and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for God was about to pass by. When Elijah obediently does this, he endures a powerful wind that tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks and realizes that the Lord is not in the wind. Then Elijah experiences an earthquake. After the earthquake, he experiences a wild, raging fire. But the Lord was not in any of these things. After the fire came a gentle whisper, and scripture says that when Elijah heard it he put his cloak over his face and went out to stand at the mouth of the cave. God doesn’t greet us with chaos, He greets us with a gentle whisper.

It was that gentle whisper I was waiting for this morning and I found it as I purposely waited, exhaling all of my stress, surrendering it to God, and accepting his peace in return. How interesting that it was said of Jesus as a baby that he was destined to cause the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts and hearts of many are revealed. Truth, it seems, always causes chaos to the darkness and peace to the righteous.

So if God is a God of peace and not one of chaos and yet his presence can cause such chaos around him, how do we approach him and his season of peace in such a way that we can dwell in his peace and not be swept up in the chaos of fire or earthquake or wind or politics or other distractions that so often precede him? This is the question that I wrestled with in the quiet of my study this morning.

There is a specific progression in the candles lit at Advent: hope, peace, joy, and love. I chose to present those themes out of the usual order not to cause chaos, but with a specific purpose. In point of fact, I should have started with love because unless you understand true love, you cannot experience real joy, and without understanding love and joy, you cannot experience true hope, and without understanding love, joy, and hope you cannot experience true peace.

With peace comes healing and that quiet assurance that even though the world around you is in chaos, you yourself can still be at peace because peace does not rely on external sources for its fuel. Instead, it burns brightly with an inner flame fed by love, joy, and hope—the very gifts that God gives us to help us pierce through a darkened world of chaos and shine a light of truth to help others find their way.

The Peace Destroyers

If we are to experience true peace this season and every season then we must seek to order the chaos within ourselves sifting out the distractions cluttering our lives so that we can instead have room enough to be blessed with greater things. So if love, joy, and hope are the things that feed peace, then let’s also name the things that rob us of peace during this season. Because you can’t fight what you won’t acknowledge!

• The tyranny of the urgent. Everything feels urgent during the holidays. Every task screams for your attention. But you guys, not everything that screams is actually important. You need to learn to distinguish between what’s truly urgent and what’s just loud.
• People-pleasing. Trying to make everyone happy is a fast track to losing your peace. You cannot control other people’s reactions. You cannot make everyone like you. And trying to do so will drain every ounce of peace from your soul. Stop it! The only person whose opinion of you counts is Jesus and he judged with the sacrifice of being born into poverty, living a perfect life as example to you and me, and being tortured to death to absolve us of our crimes. Whatever anyone else thinks is irrelevant if it doesn’t line up with what He thinks.
• Unrealistic expectations. When you expect everything to be perfect—when you build up these massive expectations in your head—you set yourself up for disappointment. And disappointment destroys peace faster than almost anything else. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way throughout my life. What I expect God to do isn’t often what He does. What I expect of myself and of others to do isn’t usually how things turn out.
• Past hurts and unresolved conflict. The holidays have a way of bringing up old wounds. Family gatherings can trigger past pain. And if you haven’t dealt with those hurts—if you’re still carrying bitterness and resentment—peace will elude you.
• Lack of boundaries. Peace requires boundaries. You need to be able to say no. You need to protect your time, your energy, your emotional space. And I know that’s hard—especially during the holidays when everyone wants a piece of you. But boundaries aren’t selfish. They’re essential!

How to Find Peace in the Chaos

Before I get too carried away (which I absolutely am!), I want to give you some practical ways to cultivate peace this Christmas season.

Here’s your homework:

• Be Still. I mean it. Look at your calendar and deliberately build in buffer time. Create margin in your schedule, so that you can breathe. Don’t schedule things back-to-back. Peace cannot exist in a life that’s packed to the brim. And hearing God’s whispers cannot occur unless you are willing to wait in silence for Him.
• Practice saying no. You don’t have to attend every meeting and every party. You don’t have to bake for every event. You don’t have to say yes to every request. Every no to something unimportant is a yes to your peace. Choose wisely!
• Choose anticipation over expectation. As I’ve said before it’s to let some things be imperfect. The decorations don’t have to be magazine-perfect. The gifts don’t have to be extravagant. Good enough is actually good enough! Instead of expecting, try anticipating instead. Typically, God doesn’t meet our expectations because our imaginations are limited. Anticipation opens us up to an obedient form of waiting that honors God in humility and trust. Anticipate God’s goodness. Leave yourself open to possibilities you haven’t thought of yet.
• Forgive past hurts and unresolved conflict. If there’s conflict that needs addressing, address it. If there’s forgiveness that needs to happen, work through it. Forgiveness is your only way to freedom. Forgiveness doesn’t mean you immediately trust the person who hurt you, it simply means that you will no longer let their actions determine your reactions. You don’t have to do this all at once, but take one small step toward healing. Your peace depends on it.
• Guard your inputs. What you consume affects your peace. The news, social media, entertainment choices, toxic conversations—all of it impacts your internal state. Be intentional about what you allow into your mind and heart during this season.
• Create REST rituals. Maybe it’s morning coffee in silence. Maybe it’s a nightly walk. Maybe it’s reading Scripture before bed. Mine is a morning devotional in which I practice REST (Release Every Stress Totally) through prayer, worship, and scripture reading. Find practices that help to relax and refocus you, and protect them fiercely. These aren’t luxuries—they’re necessities!

When Peace Feels Impossible

Let’s be really honest here. Sometimes peace feels completely impossible. Sometimes the anxiety is overwhelming. Sometimes the chaos is too much. Sometimes you’re in survival mode, and finding peace feels like a cruel joke.

I get it. I’ve been there. There have been Christmases like the first one after my best friend had a brain aneurysm or the Christmas after she died when I was barely holding it together. And I was white-knuckling my way through each day expecting specific miracles that didn’t happen. And when my expectations of a miraculous fairytale ending didn’t happen the way I thought it should, I was so angry. And peace felt like a distant memory.

But here is what I learned: peace isn’t something you manufacture through sheer willpower any more than any other miracle. It’s something you receive. It’s a gift. And sometimes—when you’re in the thick of it—the only prayer you can pray is the humble heart-cry of help! “God, help! I need Your peace. I can’t do this on my own.”

And you know what? That prayer is enough. Because the Prince of Peace hears you. He sees you. And He meets you right where you are—in the chaos, in the struggle, in the filth, in the overwhelm. When you don’t have it all together, know that it’s okay because He does. You just have to be willing to receive what He’s offering.

Peace as Warfare
Here’s something you need to understand: choosing peace in a chaotic world is an act of spiritual warfare. It’s radical. It’s counter-cultural. It’s defiant.

The world wants you stressed. It wants you anxious. It wants you running around like a chicken with your head cut off, consumed by urgent but unimportant things. Because, when you do that, you are no longer a threat.
A peaceful person is a powerful person. A centered person is a dangerous person. Someone who has inner peace can’t be controlled by external chaos.

So when you choose peace—when you refuse to let the chaos steal your joy—you’re making a statement. You’re saying, “I’m not going to let this season rob me of what matters. I’m not going to sacrifice my well-being on the altar of other people’s expectations. I’m choosing something better.”

Your Invitation to Peace

Regardless of how chaotic your life feels right now, peace is available to you. Not because your circumstances will magically improve. But because the Prince of Peace is with you. Emmanuel. God with us. Right here, right now, in the middle of your mess.

So here’s my challenge to you: Choose one thing—just one—from the homework list and implement it this week. Be Still. Choose anticipation over expectation. Forgive. Create a REST ritual. Take one small step toward peace today.

And then watch what happens. Because peace is contagious. When you have it, other people notice. When you protect it, your whole life changes. When you prioritize it, everything else falls into place.

May the peace of Christ rule your heart!

Not because everything is perfect, but because you choose to receive His gift.

Praying peace over you,
Alycia Christine