When I was a little girl, I always pictured myself as the mother of pretty little girls dressed in pink, lacy dresses who played quietly in the playroom with their Barbie dolls. Well, as many of you know, that didn’t turn our to be the case. My husband and I were blessed with three highly spirited, rambunctious sons who spent their childhood listening to me tell them, “If you want to roughhouse like that, you’ll have to go outside.” I was amused one day when I learned by reading in the interior design section of a magazine that the color blue engendered feelings of peace and tranquility. I knew then why I had always loved the color blue and had felt an almost obsessive need to have a touch of that peace-generating color in our home. Subconsciously, I think I must have desired a hint of peace to counteract the spunk of these active young boys.
When I was informed that our theme for this year’s Education Week was centered on peace, I had to chuckle as several memories of times when I was not at peace flashed through my mind.
I remembered the anxiety I felt when our son Mike wrote home from the mission field to tell us that he had been bitten by a dog. Of course, the bite just barely broke the skin and the dog had vaccination papers-or so Mike reported. Considering where he was serving in Bolivia, I found that hard to believe. I knew Mike all too well. He just didn’t want to tell his mission president and go through the agony of having rabies shots for what he considered a simple dog bite. We didn’t receive this letter until six weeks after the incident, so there wasn’t much I could do but worry.
I thought of the day we flew home from Finland with our son Eric at the completion of his mission. Our plane was making it’s final approach at the Dallas airport when the pilot suddenly aborted our landing just seconds before the wheels touched down, and we shot back up into the air. A few minutes later, the crew reported that an indicator light had flashed just as we were ready to land, and they needed time in the air to run some tests, confer with mechanics on the ground, and figure out if there was a potential problem. I didn’t exactly feel a sense of reassurance at that time either.
I remembered the exasperation and desperation I felt the afternoon I was preparing a meal for President Thomas S. Monson who was coming to our home here in Rexburg for dinner that night. Right in the middle of cooking food for that meal, our local power went off for two hours. Now that distressful situation certainly didn’t lend itself to a feeling of peace.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Judging by the looks I see on your faces, you too have experienced these kind of not-so-peaceful moments. But they are just that-moments in life when we need the Savior’s help to replace feelings of worry, fear, or distress with feelings of peace, confidence, and comfort. Whether the trials we experience are brief or extended we can count on heavenly help to assist us, for our Savior said: “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.”[1]
Let me share two examples of this sacred peace at work in the lives of people who are dear to me.
Almost two years ago, I was listening to an early-morning newscast while walking on my treadmill when suddenly my attention focused on breaking news about a sniper in the Washington, D.C., area. You may remember how over the course of days, fear struck this part of the country as a methodical pattern of attack and a defined area of siege began to emerge. Innocent men, women, and children standing outside shopping centers, gas stations, restaurants, bus stops, and schools were stalked in the sights of a high-powered rifle and then fatally shot by an unknown expert marksman. I watched with interest every day as press conferences originating from Rockville, Maryland, disclosed unfolding details in the case. I was intensely interested because my sister’s mailing address is Rockville, Maryland, and she and her family lived within miles of where some of these senseless acts of violence were occurring. We talked on the phone during that time, and our family prayed for her family.
I visited recently with my sister about that terrifying chain of events and found her recollection of those unsettling days fascinating. When I asked what thoughts came to her mind about that time, she said, “Those three weeks seemed like an eternity to me. To say I wasn’t a bit nervous wouldn’t be true. But though I felt concerned, I never felt panicked. We couldn’t stop living our lives. I found myself paying closer attention to my surroundings, especially when I parked my van in a parking lot. I remember not wanting to stop at a gas station to fill up my van.”
I asked what she and her husband had done to prepare their children. She commented that they asked for protection for each family member in their family prayers every morning before their children left for school. They reminded their children that if they were in the right places, doing the right things, and listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, they would be warned of danger and helped and guided.
What I thought was most remarkable were her thoughts about the peace she felt during that troubled time. She said even though her children experienced lock-downs at school and one of the shootings took place just a mile from her daughter’s school, she had an assurance in her heart that her children were okay. She experienced feelings of peace and calm and never worried about their safety. “I knew our children would be protected,” she said.
When I asked what she had gained from the experience, she answered that this trying time had been an occasion for her family to demonstrate belief. “We had an opportunity to put gospel principles to the test,” she said. “We had to trust that the Lord would protect us and guide us.”
She ended with this thought: “I felt peace in our home because it had been dedicated as a place of safety; and every time I drove by the Washington D.C. Temple and saw its spires emerge in the sky, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort. We live in an area where there is always going to be the turmoil of terror, but I have places to go where I can feel peace,” she said.
When others were frantic and fearful, where did this sense of peace come from? It came from the Savior who said, “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.”
Several years ago, long-time Church friends and neighbors of ours were so excited to go on what they considered to be the trip of a lifetime. This couple carefully planned a professional trip to mainland China that combined business with pleasure. But while they were there, the husband took sick with what they thought was the flu. By the time they sought medical attention, it was apparent that his condition was critical and he died suddenly and unexpectedly a short time later.
When we received word of the husband’s passing, I couldn’t help but think, “What will my friend do? She’s in China, all alone, with no members of the Church to help her and no priesthood brethren to give her a blessing.” I felt prompted to pray and ask our Father in Heaven to send angels to attend and comfort her as she dealt with the sorrow in her heart and faced the difficult logistical process of arranging to bring her husband’s body back to the United States for burial.
As we visited face-to-face on the afternoon of her husband’s funeral, I told this special friend of my prayer for her. She said something I will never forget, “Susan, I never felt alone.” She had drawn strength from the power of her covenants and had felt a sense of peace that only the Savior could give. Sweet is the peace the gospel brings. “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.”
Brothers and sisters, peace is knowing that the doctrines and principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ are true. Peace is knowing that God lives and loves us and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Peace is knowing that God continues to speak His mind and will through anointed prophets and apostles. And finally, peace is knowing that we are striving to live our lives in accordance with God’s will. There truly is “peace in righteous doing.” May we qualify for the blessing of peace in our lives is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] John 14:27