There were three of them in a dovecote and I was amazed at how close I got to them. I started off by tentatively tip-toeing towards them, pausing every time they looked up. But soon I was right underneath them and they didn't seem bothered by me at all.
I have always known that they were a symbol of peace (and sometimes hope too), but I was surprised by how busy they were, preening themselves and ruffling their feathers. They were peaceful, but not still.
It got me thinking about the real meaning of peace.
"Peace" is often partnered with "Quiet". We long for a moment of "peace and quiet" and seem to assume that to be peaceful requires being quiet, or that being quiet will result in a feeling of peace.
But watching the doves made me realise that peace is not so much to do with volume or stillness. It is about a deeper contentment and assurance. A confidence in who God is and who we are in Him. It is an internal confidence which cannot be shaken or altered by external circumstances. It is based on putting our trust in a reliable, faithful and unchanging God.
It is, as Paul said, the ability to feel content whatever the circumstances:
"I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am."
[Philippians 4:11-12 MSG]
In The Message translation, Peterson defines peace as "a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good" [Philippians 4:7 MSG]
God desires to give us this peace, to guard and protect our minds and to make us complete. But we have to stop worrying and fretting and put our trust in Him, instead of in ourselves.
"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."
[Isaiah 26:3 NIV]
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