Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The irony of peace (#SmallWonder)



I nearly laughed out loud when I saw it this evening. The beautifully rusted ship anchored alongside the shore, it's side bearing the painted name: Angelic Peace.

Yeah, right?

I'd fled here in a state of desperation bordering on anything but peace. More like the thirst for peace. Or even a sip of it, a whiff of it... or, the sight of it painted on an old metal ship.

Ok, sure. I'll take it in whatever form I can get it.

So I came, bearing all the names that press in with their paint brushes to define me at any given moment these days; many of them, part of the process of healing, transition, becoming; others, names I barely give a nod to, hoping they'll not stick around.

Weary. Impatient. Overwhelmed. Anxious. Alone. Grieved. Numb. Disconnected. Distracted. Not enough. 

And I sat down on a fallen tree, in the presence of an offshore Angelic Peace, and soaked from a distance, breath by breath, its invisible strokes across my skin.

Peace.

Peace be with you.

Peace be in you.

Peace anchor you.

Peace.


I watched a flock of coots, their black bodies peppering the water around the ship. And the few stray cormorants, bobbing and swimming and fishing, alighting in a propellant of ash colored wings. It was this sight that finally did it, bringing me to tears at the end of the day.

How they flew with such grace and freedom and skill, the way they always had; the way they assumed they always would. And I thought of the 11,000 like them in Portland that may soon be shot from their nests, shot in flight, because of humans refusing to assume responsibility for human error. And those birds have been marked to pay the fine.

Still, tonight these cormorants swim and fish and fly beneath a beautiful, rusted proclamation of peace while the weary-hearted world goes on and cars inch along traffic-clogged streets and humans plot violence against each other and all manner of created things.

And still, peace hovers close by, anchored in the waters.

Let it be, I whisper. Let it be so.




Linking up with Kelly and the Small Wonder community.




11 comments:

  1. What a poignant picture of peace in our chaotic world and pressure packed days. Don't we all long for that deep internal touch of the One Who is the Souce of real Peace. Thank you for your thoughtful reminder.

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    1. Yes, I think we do, Mom. What a gift your words are to me. Love you.

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  2. "Peace hovers close by, anchored in the waters." My word for the year last year was anchor.... thank you for bringing me back to this.
    And may God bring it to you as well, Amber.

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    1. Grateful for this, Jody. And I believe that's just what God's doing...

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  3. What a gift from God, Amber. Thank you for sharing it with us all - and the image is wonderful. Peace to anchor us all, waiting, just off shore.

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    1. It really did feel like a gift, Kelly. I clung to it all through the next day and it strengthened my heart. I'm grateful for the ways this could speak peace to others, too.

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  4. Such a beautiful post, Amber. I love the picture...what a wonderful place to go and sit and search for peace. I trust you will feel yourself wrapped in Jesus' arms during this difficult season.

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    1. Thank you, Cheryl. How sweet it is to see you here again. Thank you for these words.

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  5. Amber, such a lovely, lovely portrait. I felt like I was right there with you, staring at the water, drinking in the sights - and pondering the symbolism of rusty angelic peace. I also find myself striving to escape a *stretching* season right now in my life, and peace is hard to come by. At least the peaceful feelings that I so desire. But, at the end of the day, and after the tears, there is something that settles in my soul. And I believe it's exactly what you have so beautifully captured here in your words.

    Thank you for the way you write, and for the way you see the world, and for the way your heart beats.

    GOD BLESS!

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    1. I'm deeply touched by your words, Sharon. By how you resonate and for the gracious way you affirm me. Thank you. I'm grateful each time you're here.

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  6. Peace - the anchor. Yes, friend. How I love the way you write and your soul that seeks true places of harbor. I am so grateful for you, and I miss you. xoxo

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