Today’s lesson, Lesson 185: I Want the Peace of God, It reminds us of the deepest truth in our hearts: that beneath every desire, every longing, every pursuit—we are all seeking one thing. The peace of God.
It is our true home. It’s this feeling of being safe, whole, and loved. It’s the comfort that transcends circumstances of the world. It’s the stillness that holds everything together. And it’s the one thing that, when we have it, we realize we need nothing else.
We’ve built a world of substitutes. We chase after things—cars, relationships, achievements—believing they will satisfy us. But if we look closely, we’ll see that we don’t really want the thing. We want the feeling we believe it will give us.
We want a car? No—we want the feeling of freedom, validation, or status. We want a relationship? No—we want to feel loved, appreciated, and whole. Every want is a surrogate. A stand-in for the peace of God.
The practice in todays lesson is to be aware of our wants and ask: What is it I really want? What feeling am I hoping this will give me? Does this truly replace the peace of God? Do I want this more than I want to bring heaven to earth?
These questions don’t shame us for wanting the surrogates—they free us. They help us see that our desires are not wrong, but misdirected. They are echoes of a deeper longing that we have to become aware of.
When we realize that the peace of God is the only thing we truly want, the other wants begin to fall away. Not because we reject the world, but because we no longer need them to complete us.
We may still enjoy driving the car. We may still enjoy relationships. But we do so from a place of peace, not from a place of lack. We stop searching for peace in places where it cannot be found. And we begin to live from the peace that is already within us.
So today, be aware of your wants. Write them down if you like. Then ask: What do I believe this will give me? Can I find that feeling in the peace of God instead?
This is how we rewire the mind. This is how we return home.
May you day be a day of clarity about what you really want.
God bless you all.
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