Live at Peace ... with Yourself

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18

    The call to live at peace is a grand one, a command which we cannot fulfill alone. A transformed heart and mind pursues peace. In Romans 12 God calls us to live at peace and the call to live at peace involves living at peace with those around us as well as living at peace with ourselves.

    Living at peace internally involves forgiveness and one of those persons is myself and yourself. Do I forgive myself? Do you forgive yourself?

    Do I forgive myself for sin or do I continue to beat myself up? Do I forgive myself for the hurt I have caused another or do I continue to seek penance for my fault? Do I forgive myself for any sin in which I held back when I should have stepped forward or do I replay the moment in my head wishing I had stepped up?

    How about you? Do you live in peace or in self-condemnation and shame?
Since there is a high probability that we are not at complete peace within ourselves, where do we begin? How do we sort through intrapersonal peace?

    How about this prayer as prayed by the Psalmist:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” Psalm 139:23-24

    Grace to you as you pursue peace with possibly the most challenging person to have peace with – yourself.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**