It is true that everyone has his or her troubles, traumas, and trials, but does peace depend on our circumstances? More often than not, people who have an excess of money, possess fame, or good looks, or are top dog in the political sphere, are rarely, if ever, happy. But the same may well apply to the down-at-heel, the poor, or the disenfranchised. 

If our circumstances, good or bad, cannot bring us peace, what are we doing wrong? Where is peace to be found? And, more importantly, how can we get it?

When you think about any of the various circumstances that we can encounter, there is one common factor involved: us. Wherever we go, we take ourselves with us. In other words, peace is not to be found in the externals of our lives, but in what’s inside of us. OK, but you might ask: What, then, can I do to change what’s inside me so that I can remain calm and peaceful, even in the face of external trauma and upset?

The answer is quite simple: trust in God’s providence.

Father Jacques Philippe, in his book Searching for and Maintaining Peace (reviewed in last month’s issue of the magazine), compares our situation to a parachutist who is in an airplane. He will never know whether his parachute is working properly and is reliable unless he throws himself out of the plane into the void and pulls the ripcord. To the same extent, if we spend our life covering all our bases, making sure nothing unforeseen occurs, and that we are in control of every aspect of our lives, then there is no room for God to work. We are still on the boring old plane.

Apart from large blots on our personal history like trauma, betrayal, bereavement, or deprivation, there can be more mundane sources of our lack of peace. It is impossible for us to predict everything that might happen and take precautions so that we are never caught out. And that’s quite often where our day-to-day lack of peace comes from. What we end up with are neurosis, frustration, anger, depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, and control freakishness. And to counteract things that we can’t change, we may end up with addictions, or various other methods of escape which seem to alleviate our distress. However, all they do is temporarily anesthetize us from the pain of living.

What God offers us is relief from fear and distress by encouraging us to trust him in every situation. God either ordains or allows everything that befalls us, but as St. Paul reminds us in Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” If we were to believe that, then life would be so much more livable. If we could wrap our minds around the fact that if we choose to follow God, he will unfold our lives in a way that is tailor-made for our spiritual and material benefit, then anxiety, fear, depression, and distress would fall away, and we could at last find the peace that we yearn for.

Of course, for us to develop trust in God’s providence, he will supply situations in which we have to trust him, rather than our own weak and human abilities. Scary! But necessary. And if we acquire that gift of faith, then there is also the consequent exhilaration of living life led and protected by the Holy Spirit.

Or we can sit with the parachute safely strapped to our back, huddled at the open door of the plane gripping onto the rail, terrified to throw ourselves out into the life of thrills and adventure that he is offering us. It’s our choice.