Finding Peace – March 24, 2002
Many years ago David Grayson wrote, “It is only as we discover a rhythm in life and move to the cadence of it that we grow tranquil.”1 Grayson’s way of finding that rhythm was to move out of the city to a farm. There he worked the soil, contemplated nature, and found the peace he sought. It’s a formula for peace that many writers and poets have recommended. However, it’s not the only way to find tranquillity.
Peace isn’t attached to a location. No matter how beautiful the sunset or magnificent the meadow, they can’t bring us peace unless our hearts are willing. Tranquillity is found within our souls. The rhythms and cadences that help us find tranquillity come in the positive interactions with people and life around us. In the middle of a congested, noisy city there can be as much peace as in the middle of a snowy wood.
A woman, on her way to work in Chicago, realized her heart was telling her to smile. She argued back that she had no reason to smile and that everyone would think she was crazy if she did. Her heart wouldn’t quit its nagging, so reluctantly she gave in. She smiled at the next person she encountered and everyone else she passed until she reached her office. Some people scowled. Some looked at her as if she were crazy. But many smiled back. The amazing thing was how she felt. She felt a contentment and tranquillity she thought belonged only to the country setting of her childhood.
As with this woman, the tranquillity we seek is not attached to a place. It’s found by being aware and part of the positive rhythms and cadences of life all around us. When we sense a longing for peace, instead of looking for a new place to go, we need only look to the promptings within our hearts.
Program #3788
1. David Grayson, Adventures in Understanding (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1925), 117.