Thankful Thursday: Shalom

I didn’t grow up in a liturgical church, but my first pastor came from a liturgical tradition and he ended every service of my first ten or twelve years with the priestly blessing:

“The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face shine upon you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you
and give you peace.”

To this day, whenever I hear those words spoken, I lift my heads towards heaven to catch the rays of God’s face shining upon me.

I’ve come to see something amazing about this blessing, the blessing God entreated His priests to bless His people with. When our heads are lifted up in joy, God makes His face shine down upon us. When our heads are bowed down in sorrow, His countenance is lifted up upon us. And amidst the ups and downs, He gives us His peace.

This week, I’m thankful…

…for peace when friends are hospitalized, close to death

…for peace when friends are celebrating, beginning a new life together

…for peace when I leave work at 4:30

…for peace when it seems I’ll never leave work

…for peace when there isn’t any food left on the line for me to eat

…for peace when I unexpectedly find a mulberry tree full of berries (in my own neighborhood!)

…for peace when I’m ecstatically joyful

…for peace when I’m frustrated and angry (is that a contradiction? except it’s true.)

I’m still working my way through Sarah Francis Martin’s Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties in a Decade of Drama, and in one of the exercises, Sarah encourages her readers to read Jeremiah 29:11.

Since I’ve had Jeremiah 29:11 memorized for a couple decades (man, I’m old!), I was inclined to just recite it in my head and be done with it. But I didn’t, and I’m glad.

I read in the ESV: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Seeing the [a] behind “welfare”, I dropped my eyes to the bottom of the page for the explanation. “Or peace”, the footnote read.

In my childhood memorization, I’d learned the NIV: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”

Now, I’m not knocking the NIV, but I have to say that the two read completely differently to me.

When I think of prosperity, I have to force my mind to realize that this isn’t a material promise. I have to remind myself that this doesn’t mean God’s promising the American dream of a husband, kids, a home with a two car garage, and a chicken frying in a pan.

When I read the ESV, my mind travels of its own volition to the word that I quickly confirm is indeed there: shalom.

Completeness, soundness, tranquility, peace.

Shalom.

That life that can only be found when the face of God is shining down on you. That life that can only be found when the countenance of God is lifted up upon you.

Shalom. The thoughts God thinks as He gazes upon His children.

I am blessed to be one of His.

Blessed to experience shalom.