A Second Look

Sunday afternoon I wanted to light a candle in my kitchen. I pulled open the drawer to find the lighter and couldn't find it anywhere. I had a slightly panicked moment thinking, "How am I going to light any of my candles if I can't find my lighter." That was when I noticed them sitting in the bottom of the drawer. The matches. You know, the things we use to use before lighters were made. That restaurants use to advertise on all the time. Yep, had them. Right there in the drawer, so I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life candleless. But for a fleeting moment, I honestly was thinking there was no way to light my candle except a lighter.

This isn't real different from what happens in so many moments of life. I call it the "first look." The "first look" to most situations is the view through our flesh. It's the panicked moment over the economy. It's the anger over the injustice. It's the hurt over the offense. But the beauty of relationship with Jesus provides a "second look." It provides peace when everyone else seems to be quaking in their loafers. It provides forgiveness when it's not deserved, and sometimes not even asked for. It provides us the ability to see past our offense and into the heart of our offender. Realizing that most people hurt others out of their own places of pain.

I love the picture on the cover of Savannah by the Sea. And no, that's not me. But it represents the place to me of peace. The place you and I are called to rest. The place the "second look" affords. We're told, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And He has left us with Himself. The only way you and I can lose our peace is to give it away. It cannot be taken from us. Jesus can't be taken. But we can hand over our peace.

This is a season of life where the enemy of our soul is feasting on people's "first looks." He wants to hold us there, staring at the candle with no seemingly lighter. Focused on the television with a remote control that doesn't work. But both of these are still viable. How? They have other resources of power. And so do we. We have the ultimate resource of power. Our circumstances do not define our God. Our faith will determine how He works in our life.

So, we can live in the clutches of our "first look", popping Tums, biting our nails, living with ulcers. Or we can take Savannah's attitude up there and rest in the love of our faithful Father. That even if the world feels out of control, He has never lost it.