And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. (Isaiah 32:17, NASB)

A calm sea.
A calm day.
A calm face.  

The state of being calm feels like a deep, long, exhaled breath. Peace, harmony, and smoothness are words that can echo the sentiment of calmness. I want this state of being to describe me, as I’m sure you do as well. And yet… life happens and we end up living more like an agitated, nervous, ruffled tea kettle that’s about to boil over. Why does calmness feel so out of reach? 

The Anti-Calm

We live in an anti-calm culture. Just pop on over to your favorite social media site, and you’ll see evidence of how easily ruffled, agitated and offended we can get. Or notice drivers out on the road (maybe yourself included?!) and you’ll see how quickly we can become impatient and the exact opposite of calm! 

Even on normal, routine days at home or while going about our day to day business, it seems as if there’s always this low hum of stress and anxiety that we can never fully step away from. This lack of calmness produces:

  • Stress
  • Anxiety
  • Headaches
  • Stomachaches
  • Irritability with others
  • Strained relationships
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Heart issues…

… and so much more. We are living and breathing the effects of our anti-calm culture and pace. 

For a moment, rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 (1 = cool as a cucumber, 10 = about to blow your top) on how calmly you approach such things as:

  • The current political climate and elections
  • Your daily schedule
  • Never-ending demands of others
  • Financial discussions with your spouse

Yikes! We probably can all attest that our overall score was higher—not lower—in general. We’re all in the same boat, struggling to survive and probably giving up on the ideal life full of calmness and tranquility. 

And yet, we yearn for calm. 

This is why vacations to the water or the mountains or looking at the blue skies speak so powerfully to us and draw us into peace. Something about stillness is very attractive to us, even though it feels elusive to obtain. So how do we get there? 

A calm life is not just a decision. It’s not a switch we can flip and automatically obtain a calm state. This is why it usually takes a couple of days on vacation to fully relax. Even when we sit down to rest, we still feel the buzz of life and activity as cortisol courses through our blood. It’s so hard to get to a place of feeling calm. Should we just give up on trying and succumb to the continual rat race? 

I’ve recently found that deep breathing helps me feel more calm in the moment. Before eating or while I’m watching the sunrise—even while I’m sitting at a red light, I’ll practice some deep, calming breaths. I inhale for four seconds through my nose and exhale for twice as long through my mouth. Repeated a few times, this exercise produces an almost instant effect of feeling more at peace. Times of silence, turning off the noise of my phone or computer, also breeds an environment that feels more calm. 

Calmness is a Supernatural Grace

Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, 
And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
And the fertile field is considered as a forest. 
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness
And righteousness will abide in the fertile field. 
And the work of righteousness will be peace, 
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. 
Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation,
And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places. 
(Isaiah 32:15-17, NASB) 

In the context of this verse, Isaiah is describing what life and the land will look like in the time of the millennial reign of Christ. Everything will be redeemed and will look different than normal day to day as we are experiencing it right now. 

  • The fields will be abundant and fertile.
  • There will (finally!) be justice in the land.
  • We will dwell peacefully.
  • We’ll live in undisturbed resting places.

How glorious will that be! Human life and the land itself will finally resemble what God originally determined and purposed that creation should look like. When God created the earth and our life, it was all originally calm and peaceful. And we see here that in the millennium, life and the land will also be returned to a state of complete calmness. 

So why are we currently dealing with an anti-calm life and land? It’s because of sin! When sin entered the calm garden, it changed everything to chaos. Sin brought chaos into our life. 

But in verse 17, we see that the effect of righteousness is peace, quietness and confidence. Christians have access to the Divine, Supernatural calm that is available only through the redemption and work of Christ! Calmness is one of the gifts He gives us when we become righteous through Him. 

When we are feeling the anti-calm that is second nature to our flesh and this world, here is what we can do: 

  1. Recognize the feeling, notice the chaos and agitation bubbling under the surface.
  2. Pray—bring God into the chaos.
  3. Fight for calmness. We do this through:
    1. Quoting Scriptures
    2. Turning on worship music
    3. Taking those anxious thoughts and beliefs captive

It is possible for Christians to exhibit and exude a calmness that the world doesn’t have access to. Calmness is a gift given to believers. The world can search for it, but they’ll never find calm as God intended until they’re cloaked in His righteousness alone! 

Ralph Waldo Emerson poetically exclaimed, “Calmness is always godlike.” 

God is calm.
God’s original design and His redemptive plan is calmness.
And believers have access to this calm through Him in the meantime.
What a gift.

Silence is a pathway to calmness.

When we live with Jesus at the center, we can taste internal calmness, often described as “quietness” in Scripture. Silence is both the practice and product of a life grounded in God’s peace, and it’s a gift I want you to experience. Listen to this episode of the Broken & Beautiful Podcast livestream and learn more of the calmness only Jesus can offer.

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Each retreat explores meaningful topics Christian women face, offering Scripture deep dives, creative therapy sessions, and community time with other women who are on the same broken to beautiful journey. Broken & Beautiful Retreats take place at various locations in Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana.

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Silent Night

November 22-23, 2024

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New Season. Same Reason.

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