#Peace that lasts

[momentsbeforemass]

Rest

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

It’s today’s Gospel, and – at least for me – it’s one that sticks.

It keeps coming back to me, and I keep coming back to it.

Have you ever needed to stop, to rest – just for a minute?

Not just physically – to stop doing stuff. That’s not easy.

Not just mentally – to stop thinking about stuff and what-iffing. That’s a serious challenge.

But down deep, spiritually, to really rest.

For the very heart of you, the part that does, the part that thinks, to just stop.

That’s pretty much impossible. At least on our own.

And that’s what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel.

Not about what we can’t do. Because God isn’t the God of throwing up roadblocks.

But about how to find the rest for our souls that you and I so desperately need.

Because God knows that we can’t handle all that we’re facing on our own. God knows that we’re exhausted from trying.

And God loves us too much to leave us there.

Which is why Jesus is talking about the only way to find the rest, to find the peace that we so desperately need.

Not the all-too-brief rest of the “in-between.” That glorious moment of peace when one thing is finally over, and the next thing hasn’t hit us. Yet.

But the peace that lasts. Peace down deep. Right in the middle of the mess.

The kind that comes from resting our souls. With the only One in whom that rest can be found.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

Today’s Readings

[io-lu-art]

A tale of Ba Sing Se.

[dooldebob]

some of your goofy asses for the past 20 years

[qiinamii]

we'll do fine.

[gingersnapped]

"Sam is probably my only friend in this town..." emergency sleepover time in the mountains after local small town emo and skater boy played too much solarion chronicles and lost track of time

[hinamie]

long way home

[stygiovictoria]

i keep thinking about in book 2 when zuko was like horrifyingly happy after he got ovdr his fever and imagining if people saw him like that

[bacchuschucklefuck]

summer of junior year 06/11

[thelasttoastbender]

I'm only one episode in so far but

Yeah not a total trainwreck so far!

[sandflakedraws]

re : how each brother reacts learning that they can't go back

you'll have to pry the "all the Brozone Bros knew what happened at the tree" headcanon outta my cold, dead dead dead hands.

[momentsbeforemass]

Socks on the floor

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.”

That’s how today’s Gospel starts. Jesus is telling us that there’s the world’s version of peace. And then there’s God’s version.

The world’s version of peace is the kind you and I get when there’s a break in the action. Two things about that kind of peace.

One – it doesn’t last. You and I know this. Sometimes we even call it “a moment’s peace.”

Two – whether we worked hard for it, or it just happened, it’s fragile. It will be wiped away by the next thing that happens.

Because the world’s version of peace is the peace of the finished task. The peace of the sleeping child. The peace of the cancelled meeting.

It’s not a question of whether that peace will end. It’s just a matter of how and when.

It’s a peace that cannot last. Because it’s just a break in the action.

And because it is just a break in the action, it’s never there when you and I need it most – when we’re right in the middle of things.

Especially things like death, divorce, addiction, illness, job loss. The hard things.

So, what’s God’s version of peace?

God’s version of peace – is peace in right in the middle of things. Even the hard things.

The difference between God’s peace and the world’s is the source.

God’s peace doesn’t come from a break in the action. God’s peace comes from making a place for God in our lives.

God freely pours out His peace for all of us. But you and I have to be smart enough to take it.

To do that, we have to build habits of peace.

That is, we have to intentionally build places within our lives, within our routine, and within ourselves to be with God.

We can have set times for Bible reading and prayer.

We can have landmarks (places, images, things we do, etc.) that we us to call us to God.

We can have moments and feelings (good, bad, or indifferent) that we turn into calls to prayer.

It can be as formal or informal as we like.

Whatever we do, we have to actually do it. And it has to lead us to a spiritual place.

But we can’t treat that place like grandma’s house. A place we only go to for Christmas or when someone dies.

We can’t treat that place like a storm shelter. A place we only run to when we hear the tornado sirens.

That place has to be our home. The place we live in, every day.

And you and I have to really live in that place of God’s peace.

Until there are dishes in the sink and socks on the floor.  

Until you and I are talking with God – taking things to God in prayer, telling God all about all of it, seeking God’s will for the big things and the small stuff – talking with God like our dearest friend.

Not just while we’re reading the Bible or saying our prayers, but in the middle of everything.

Even while we’re dropping our socks on the floor.

Today’s Readings

[ruubesz-draws]

Minus One meets Emi

Emi is fine... just shooked

[demaparbat-hp]

Water Half-Child

[bixels]

Hot to the Touch

(Sunset x Thea)

[ectoplasmentity]

I keep reading the Pride Month Demon meme as this I fear

Edit: For people commenting that Pride Month is over, July is Disability Pride Month! Demoman is disabled (he does not have an eye) and I, the artist, am disabled, so what I say stands✌️I also say in the tags that Pride is year long and forever 🌈💖

[qiinamii]

"Xiao does things" (and friends) twitter log part 2

-- UPDATE: removed some of the arts to make its own individual post since I am bad at organizing, sorry! (but the last one is new lol) xD