Peace
Title: “Peace: Advent”, Part of the Tabiji Eggshell collection. “Tabiji” means “journey through” in Japanese.
Media: eggshell, acrylic paint, thread
Side view
One moment in Yosemite will stay with me forever: coasting down a long stretch of slight downhill road around a big curve, the breeze in my face, and forest as far as my eyes could see. The quiet, listening feeling of those trees was like nothing I’d sensed before. Their peacefulness was unmistakable. It was almost as if they were singing an endless hymn of peace like a great green choir. Not peace as in “the absence of war”, as it’s often defined, but peace as its very own thing. Peace as itself.
Like those trees, there are people in my life who exude a similar peacefulness of spirit that calms me. Just by being in their presence, I breathe easier, my shoulders relax, and I don’t feel like I have to hang on quite so tightly to the circumstances of my life. They steady me and return me to a place of peace when I lose my way. I do this for them too. Together we keep each other on the road, though there will always be times of hauling each other back up and over when one of us has gone off a cliff. It happens. Life can be crazy. I need peace to anchor me safely in the depths of my soul. Maybe you do too?
Peace is bright, rugged stuff. It steadies us when we navigate that hard conversation. It keeps us composed after we’ve made a big decision, not knowing where it will lead. When life feels like one long night, we can also be most acutely aware of the presence of Peace in that place. Maybe it’s the contrast that makes it so beautiful. Or our own longing for it. That it is there at all makes the night a less fearful place. Maybe even a little friendlier.
This second week of Advent, I wish for you real Peace where you need it most. And maybe a walk in a forest.