Merriam Webster defines peace as a state of tranquility or quiet; freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions; harmony…  Jehovah-shalom means “the God of peace.” God could never give to others a peace that exceeds understanding if He Himself were not perfect, unfailing peace.

Judges 6:22-24

When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD, he said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.”  The LORD said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.”  Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Isaiah 9:6
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!

“Freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions” – we pray for God’s peace each time the boys awake with nightmares, each time they see something scary… and a dove has long been a symbol of peace and the Holy Spirit – God’s Indwelling Spirit that gives us His peace!

Thank you, Lord, for Your Peace!

We made the peach pit necklaces I linked to this week! They were easy and fun. We made so many we decided to give them to all the girls in my family (2 aunts, 1 cousin and 1 grandmama) at a little family birthday shin-dig. Here’s my mom (the aforementioned Grandmama) and Lydia sporting their “fruit of the spirit” necklaces!

Hmmm, kinda hard to see, huh? Well. here’s Lydia’s bunny, Flopsy rockin’ a peach and strawberry Fruit of the Spirit necklace...

Aren’t they adorable? And so easy: just a little paint, some green craft foam, ribbon and a hot glue gun! I might have to go buy some more peaches so we can add to our collection.

They are so colorful and fun–I think they’d look good in any color–not really matching a specific fruit. You could even glue them to other things: hair clips, clothespins, ribbon bookmarks, picture frames and more! They are so yummy I want to eat them.

Kinda.

Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend!

We’re still up to our ears in peaches here! I’ve got a few more peach-y peace-y things up my sleeve. Here’s a few I’ve been toying with and a few we’re still planning on doing this week…

• Learn the song, Peace Like a River. (I even found a video of the song with motions!) Apparently this song comes from the old hymn, It Is Well. And if you know the story behind this hymn it will really make the song come alive for you! Horatio Spafford, the hymn writer had some very serious loss in a short span of time (his business burned down, his children were drowned, his possessions lost). He wrote this hymn as his ship passed near where he lost his children:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—
My sin—not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
“Even so”—it is well with my soul.

Isn’t that awesome?! Peace, indeed! If your kids are old enough, you may want to buy or download the Adventures in Odyssey’s re-telling of Horatio’s story, It Is Well.

• Read some peach-y books:
  • Each Peach Pear Plum. I’ve been trying to get this at the library for a couple of weeks now. It’s was Where’s-Waldo before Waldo was cool. I remember reading it as a kid and loved it!
  • James and the Giant Peach. I actually have never read this book. But I did see the movie and I adore Roald Dahl. He’s fantastical and funny.
  • P is for Peach: A Georgia Alphabet. What can I say? I was born and raised in Georgia. A real live Southern Peach! I love this series of books. I want one from every state I’ve lived!

• Make the Peach from Veggie Tales. (Remember him? “Thanks for the hairbrush.” Ha!) This would be a fun one because you could make him into a paper-bag hand puppet and make him say your scripture. Or just have him perform the Hairbrush Song for you.
• Make a peach pit craft. We’ve eaten so many peaches this week due to our Peach Scavenger Hunt (and the local farmer’s market) that I decided to save the peach pits. I knew I had seen a craft with them at one point in my life but couldn’t put my finger on what to do with them. Finally, I remembered: POTPURRI. Yes! Back in the 8o’s when potpurri was the rage, we always had peach potpurri at our house–complete with peach pits. I’m just not sure I want to conquer a craft with essential oils with a 3 year old. Instead we might:
  • paint them and decorate as different animals (via AC)
  • make a fruit necklace (this one is a strawberry which might be confusing, but how cute!)
  • use them to make impressions in playdough or clay
  • or maybe a little carving would be fun…KIDDING!

See all our PEACE activities here!

photo by adwriter

Our  newest Fruit of the Spirit is PEACE. We taped our little scratch-n-sniff peach to flat-Lydia, we read the story of Jesus calming the storm and all week we’ve been saying, “Peace Peach! Peace Peach!” So, today when I got Lydia up from her nap, I told her I had something very special to share with her about the Peace Peach. We read 1 Peter 3:11b:

Look for peace, and go after it.

I didn’t explain it or talk about it. I just had her grab her easter basket and we headed downstairs. I had hidden four peaches in the living room. I let her go on a peach scavenger hunt. She was wide-eyed…jumping up and down when she found a peach and searching hard when she couldn’t. When she’d get stuck I’d say, “Look for peace and go after it!”

Once her basket was full, I told her just like she looked for the peaches, she needs to look for peace. When she’s afraid, look for peace. When someone is being mean, look for peace. When she’s angry, look for peace. I know as adults we’d be asking for a lot more instruction than “look for peace” but that’s what the Bible says and a 3 year old can take it at face value. We just have too look for it and go after it. Period.

She loved it so much she’s been carrying her basket around all day. And then hid the peaches again so her Daddy could find them when he came home.

It wasn’t the most exciting thing we’ve ever done. It didn’t require a lot of set up. It didn’t even really take us that long. But it was just another little way to get God’s Word into her heart in a fun way.

Oh yeah, and then we cut a peach up and ate it. Yummy.

There are so many great verses about PEACE. I have not been sure if I want to go the route of peace during a storm, being a peace-maker or having a peaceful spirit. So, I think we might just hit on all of them.

The first thing we did was read the story of Jesus calming the storm. It’s one of Lydia’s favorite stories.  Once we read the story from the Bible (which is actually pretty exciting), we started talking about the differences between Jesus’ actions and the disciples’ actions. Jesus was asleep during the entire storm while the disciples were screaming. (Hmmm….who did this remind us of? Oh yeah, Lydia every time it thunders.) She was really into the story, so we read it again in a kids’ book. 

Calming the Storm is actually a song-story. You read the words in the book to the tune of  “Row Row Row Your Boat”. We’ve read this one so many times I think she knows it better than the real song. And that’s fine with me!

(FYI: There are several books in this Sing-With-Me series. We have Creationand Battle of Jericho. Lydia and Asa love them! I just wish I could remember the tune to Sing a Song of Sixpence!)

After reading and talking…which I’m surprised at how much of a conversation I can have with a 3 year old…we made a little boat so we could act out the story for ourselves. I found this craft on DLKT, I think. It’s not much and honestly didn’t work too well.

It’s just a little piece of playdough/clay stuck on the top of a plastic container lid. Then stick a plastic straw in the middle and add a sail. We filled a tub with water and set sail!

Soon, we added some rain, some wind and waves (aka plastic cups). I pretended to be the screaming disciples and let Lydia be Jesus. She got to yell, “PEACE!” Then I would stop screaming and calm the waves down.

SHE LOVED IT.

We played this for so long I finally had to take Asa inside so he wouldn’t get sunburned. She would say, “Mommy, YOU be Jesus!” And then she’d start wailing like the disciples and pouring water on the boat. Then she’d change her mind and say, “NO! I’ll be Jesus!” And she’d start snoring. It was so fun.

I’ve posted before about role-playing with her. I am always surprised at how well it works for her. She wasn’t role-playing her own fears, but the actual story of another and I think it really helped cement the idea of Jesus’ power and his ability to give us PEACE into her heart!