This was originally published as a part of Darling's Instagram Mini-Article Series on March 20, 2019.
What do we picture when we think of peace?
A quiet beach. An empty to-do list. An unhindered mind. An elusive, slow Saturday morning in bed. Whatever it may be, I imagine our visions for peace have a kind of finality to them -- we have checked all our boxes and we permit ourselves an exhale.
But what about the in-between? The everyday chaos running wild across our calendars, our living rooms, or our minds. The relentless rise of anxiety and fear and exhaustion would indicate we live not only in a deficit of peace, but we have limited our own access to it and our ability to cultivate it.
A friend of mine told me when she was in law school that she would walk into every exam with this philosophy: "I may not be the smartest or most prepared person in this room, but I can be the most peace-filled."
Peace is a rare and powerful thing in an anxiety-ridden world -- not only as an antidote to fear, but as an invitation for others. It speaks rest to our souls and to those around us, before the finish line, short of our vision of "enough," or in the messiest middle. The more we deem ourselves worthy of peace, the less power fear has on our present reality. Our picture will become more defined by the posture of our hearts, and clarity and rest will grow where we least expect.
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