I love the start of a new school year. You get new classes, new teachers, new notebooks, and most importantly new pens! But this year is different. Classes aren’t in person like we are accustomed to. School shopping is more stressful cause you don’t even know what to expect from classes. I don’t feel peace about this school year like I normally do right before it starts.
Yes I’m the person who has always been excited for the new school year. Im always mostly excited because of the pretty new school supplies but a new school year means new opportunities. I usually never worry about the beginning of a school year cause its routine and I thrive on routine so I have always been at peace with it. Even coming to Ole Miss I was at peace mostly about the new school year. I might have been in a different state not knowing a single person but I was still at peace with that school year.
But before I go into this any further what even is peace? In the Biblical sense, peace can be described as totality, completeness, success, fulfillment, wholeness, harmony, security, and well being. So when I say I do not feel peace about this new school year, I mean I don’t see the wholeness, harmony, completeness, success, or fulfillment that a new school year normally brings. This new school year will experience completeness and success and harmony in new ways.
In John 16, Jesus tells his disciples to call on him and ask for whatever they need and they will receive it and their joy will be complete. In John 16:33, Jesus says “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have have overcome the world!” In this verse, Jesus is saying to have security in knowing that going to the Father will bring complete joy because the world will cause pain and tribulation but Jesus has already overtaken the world. How good is it to know that we can have peace because Jesus has already faced the world for us!
Even though classes start in just a couple of days, I still do not know what my classes will be like. I do not know what school supplies I will actually need. I do not have much in my control that I know is going to happen. My out of class activities are questionable and up in the air. So many things are still unknown, but Jesus, the one who gives ultimate peace, is still the same that he was yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
The routine that I am holding on to this school year is Jesus. He is unchanging and always there. The world may cause problems and fail us but Jesus hasn’t and he won’t start to just because the world is in chaos.
Grace Is Enough 