DAILY DEVOT IONAL 21

Tim Conaway

27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Don’t be troubled or afraid. - John 14:27 (CEB)

This past Christmas was the year of LEGO in our household—not just for our children, but for me as well! I didn’t grow up playing LEGO (or is it “playing with LEGOs”?), but that changed this past summer. While on vacation, our two sons received LEGO sets and asked me to help build them. I quickly discovered how cathartic and peaceful the process was. It gave me a chance to connect with my children, to be fully present, and to slow down.

The word LEGO is "an abbreviation of the two Danish words “leg godt”, meaning “play well”". That’s something our world could use more of, isn’t it? Too often, we struggle to play well with others. How do we do that? I believe it starts with making peace; peace in ourselves, and with others.

In Hebrew, the word for peace is shalom—meaning not just the absence of conflict, but a state of wholeness and completion. Think of a LEGO set: when every piece is in place, it is whole, complete—it is in a state of shalom. It is bringing together and mending that which has been broken.

The kind of peace that makes us complete and whole only comes from God. Jesus says he gives us peace, not as the world gives, to which we say “Thank God”. For us to play well with one another we need to allow God to do a work in us, to transform us and make us whole. The One who mends the brokenness of this world and makes us whole gives us a charge, to be peacemakers, to love one another. So may we LEGO, play well with others, by being peacemakers, who live in, through, and by God's grace.

May the peace of God that exceeds all understanding keep our hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. To make us complete and made whole in love.

God of Peace, continue to do a work in us–in our World, mending what is broken, bringing hope, restoration, recovery, renewal, and to send us out as people of Your Shalom. We ask this in the name of the One who gives us not as the World does, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

HYMNS, SONGS, OR ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• It Is Well (UMH #377)