Choosing Peace

Choosing Peace

We tend to think of peace as something that arrives — a feeling that descends when circumstances become less complicated, when the difficult conversation has been resolved, when the uncertainty lifts. We wait for peace the way we wait for good weather.

But Paul's instruction in Colossians is different: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. (Colossians 3:15)

The word translated 'rule' here is from the language of athletics — it means to act as umpire or arbiter. To make the call. Paul is not describing peace as a visitor we receive but as an authority we submit to. The peace of Christ is given to us; we choose whether to let it govern.

This changes how I think about the anxious mornings. The circling thoughts. The reaching for the phone to check whether the thing I was worried about last night has developed overnight. In those moments, something is ruling — and it is not peace. It may be habit, or anxiety, or the subtle conviction that vigilance is the same thing as care.

To let peace rule is an act of active trust. It requires choosing, against the momentum of the anxious mind, to let a different authority make the call. Not to pretend the difficulty is not there — but to let what is true about God speak louder than what is uncertain about the situation.

This is practice, not performance. It does not happen all at once and it does not happen without effort. But it begins with the willingness to let peace rule — to hand the gavel over — and to see what happens when it does.