by Aaron Berry

Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee-Isaiah 26:3…

“Perefect Peace”. I don’t know about you but I can not honestly say I am at perfect peace with anything, not even the things over which I have control, like uhhhh…my life. Don’t get me wrong I love my life and I love myself. I mean there are times that in the words of the late Great Godfather of Soul, “I wanna jump back and kiss myself” but, I am not at perfect peace with a damn thing: I am not at perfect peace with my job, my relationships, my appearance, my financial situation, so on and so forth. Maybe its me or maybe somebody knows what its like to doubt what they are doing because they are just not meeting expectations.

Huhhhhhh…meeting expectations. That’s life isn’t it. Sacrificing precious time on the phone, the Internet, Xbox, Playstation and spending hours studying kids try to meet the expectations of their parents. Look at her hitting the gym: 1 hour on the treadmill, 30 minutes on the bike, another hour under the weights, wives and girlfriends squeeze out precious time trying to meet the expectations of their husbands, boyfriends, or maybe the hoped for husband or boyfriend that they have yet to meet. Check him out: working 50 to 60 hours a week, taking on a second/part-time job, giving up the joys and passions of his youth: football, basketball, music…the actions of a brother trying to meet the expectations of a society that declares monetary wealth the bar of success in life. These scenarios play out across the lines of gender, age, race, sexual orientation and any other line of distinction one might want to draw. The truth of the matter is that all of us at sometime or another in our life has felt less than adequate due to some perceived failure. Sadly some of us more than others.

Maybe you did not land that big money, six figure salary fresh out of grad school and you are down in the trenches struggling to make a dollar out of fifteen cent. Possibly you have put on a few, perhaps 10, hell maybe 20 pounds in the wake of a new adult lifestyle. Is it you, in your late 20s or 30s that find yourself living in your parents house because life has taken some unexpected turns and brought you back full circle to the place where you started. Quite possibly you are perfect. You do not fall and will never fall in any of these categories and you have/are exceeding every expectation ever placed on you. If you are not that lucky delusional person that well does not exist…then you are possibly like me, one of the aforementioned that has struggled to accept their shortcomings. 

The desire to meet expectations is natural, it is innate and when used properly as motivation out of the vein of love to propel one to the place they are meant to be, that desire is good. But when used as a superficial measuring stick to seperate and destroy the souls of many declaring some winners and others losers, these as beautiful and those as ugly, or we as strong and they as weak…expectations can be and are often wrong, devisive, and very destructive; leading to envy, guilt, despair, and Lord have mercy HATE. Therefore fix your mind on the expectations that matter…

The expectations of the Lord. God expects us to keep his commandments, he says “if you love me you will keep my commandments.” But when asked what are the greatest commandments or for the sake of relevance what expectations matter most to God, the Son of God replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind ‘this is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

Our Heavenly Father weather you deny, resent, or ignore his existance is the ultimate source of positive expectations. God has no concern with how rich, how good-looking, how successful, or even how messed up we are. God is love and therefore love is primary concern. Perfectly at peace is the mind that is stayed on God, that is fixated on the love of God and others. The next time you begin to get preocuppied with the trivialities of life I dare you, no I ENCOURAGE you to think about God and focus on how much he loves you. If you want to jump futher into focus and therefore more at peace think about someone that is in need of love. If you have to, go out and find someone. I can promise you if there is one thing there is an abudance of on this planet it is people that need love. 

So there it is people, its real simple people. Begin to focus less on yourself. Try to keep your mind more focused on God and others; then you will find your life taking on a new meaning one that is filled with joy and most of all peace within yourself…thanks for coming to Chuuch!!!

Peace and Blessings,

AB