Where Do You Go to Find a Sense of Peace?

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Where do you go to find a sense of peace? Maybe you go for a hike out in the woods.

Maybe you go out to the lake or along the river. Maybe you have a quiet place in your

home. One of the places I find particularly peaceful is the memorial garden here at the

church.

In addition to occasional worship services (like our Good Friday Tenebrae) and the

preschool’s annual butterfly release, the trustees have approved the use of this space

for the burial or spreading of ashes, so that it can be an enduring memorial garden for

church members and their loved ones. This space has received some refreshment in

these past few months. A local landscaper, Asher Powers, has installed some new

stone decks and walkways, planted several different ferns and other flowering plants,

and spread some mulch, and all of this has given the memorial garden a fresh new look.

But one of the features has remained—the peace pole.

The peace pole stands to the side under one of the trees. It has the prayer “May peace

prevail on the earth” posted in eight different languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, and

Spanish. Every time I find myself in the memorial garden, I find my eyes drawn to this

pole and its prayer, and I am drawn more deeply into a sense of peace.

At the center of the church’s “footprint” on this earth is this place of peace. Peace, not

only for those who have passed on to glory, but peace for the living.

If you are trying to find a greater sense of peace in your life, in your faith, in this world,

perhaps you might want to spend some time sitting on a bench, by the peace pole

under the tree in our memorial garden.