August 31-September 6

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How do we find peace? 

Mortal life is not for the faint of heart. Though it can have breaks in the difficulty where the sun shines for a while, we often get thrown back into the waves so that we can achieve our purpose of growing. It’s a necessary exercise. It was the purpose of mortal life. However, despite opposition being one of the main tools of the Plan of Salvation, it can be exhausting. 

Here is a verse in Psalms that helped me to reflect on this concept.

Psalms 116:7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. 

In all the craziness that runs rampant in our world, the Lord can offer peace and rest. He doesn’t offer it as the world gives it; He offers it differently. 

Doesn’t that sound nice? I spent a lot of time growing up not understanding how to actually harvest the peace out of the gospel. I did the work, but I couldn’t close the gap between following the commandments and actually receiving a calmness in my soul. I went to church and read scriptures and did programs and attended the temple, and I still had a significant amount of turmoil in my life. 

So what are some of our barriers to peace? I think there can be many barriers to peace including opposition, spiritual challenges, and challenges for our loved ones. However, I think the biggest barrier is a misunderstanding of where peace comes from. Let’s talk about some of those misunderstandings first.

The world teaches us that removing the opposition will help us find peace. I don’t think that’s 100% false. I definitely find peace when I take care of some of my issues. However, this is not a consistent enough resolution. Even when my life is relatively serene, I have a bad habit of finding problems. 

There was an experiment performed by John B. Calhoun in the late 1960’s where he created a mouse utopia with plenty of space, food, and water. The temperature was always ideal. There were no predators. The mice flourished initially. As time moved on, despite ideal conditions and plentiful resources, the society of mice dissolved. Males started fighting aggressively with no true purpose. Females abandoned their young. Many mice withdrew socially and wouldn’t participate. 

In a world filled to the brim with external peace, the mice created their own problems and sabotaged their own society.

I can’t help but notice parallels in our own world. 

There is such a thing as external peace, but it actually plays a relatively inconsequential role in our internal peace. The world would tell you to remove external pressures and responsibilities. This is relatively ineffective.

But beyond what the world teaches, I think sometimes we, as Latter-day Saints, misunderstand where peace comes from even within the gospel. At least I misunderstood it. I thought that if I did what I was supposed to, the peace would just descend upon me. It would just start springing up as I made the correct decisions.

I missed a critical step.

Following the commandments → get to know Christ → peace in Christ

Following the commandments does not automatically bring peace. It can remove some of the barriers to peace. It can prevent barriers from rising up. For example, following the Word of Wisdom helps prevent addictions which can upend your life. However, we have already discussed the fact that removing external barriers is insufficient.

Peace is a byproduct of belief. I believe that Christ can fulfill His promises to me, and those promises are so incredible. I love them. When difficult things happen, I can hold to those promises. When life is easy, I still can find purpose rather than emptiness. True belief brings peace.

Commandments can help us find belief. 

Perhaps that seems like a silly nuance, but it made a world of difference for me. I kept doing what I was supposed to do in the church, but I was still finding turmoil. True belief was missing. Interestingly enough, I believe in the church. I believed that God led it. I believed that Joseph Smith had restored it. I believed The Book of Mormon came from God.

But it wasn’t until I started actively believing that Christ had died for me, paid for my sins, and promised to personally take care of me that things clicked into place and I felt safe. I’m grateful that the commandments helped me find that belief that brought peace. 

Which brings us back to our verse. Let’s put it into modern words this time.

Psalms 116:7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. 

Rest. Because the Lord has blessed you. Because He will bless you.

Sometimes He really does calm the sea and remove external barriers. Those are nice times. Those are times where we get to practice finding purpose to ground us. 

But other times, He can help us walk on water instead. In the New Testament, Peter walks on water and stays there as long as he keeps his eyes on Christ. It doesn’t matter how tall the waves are. It doesn’t matter how much the water rises. It doesn’t matter when keeping your eye on Christ keeps you on top of all that water. In fact, the rising water just brings you higher. 

You’re not swimming desperately or drowning. You’re keeping your eyes on Christ, and He is enabling you to walk on top of it all. Your soul can rest because He is dealing with you bountifully.

I testify that peace comes internally. External peace is nice sometimes, but inner peace is truly what matters. I testify that the most powerful kind of peace stems from keeping your eye on Christ. I testify that keeping the commandments brings peace because keeping commandments helps you keep your eye on Christ. I testify that peace is possible even in our world filled with turmoil.