During the Advent season, we will feature artwork each week by ChanMi Jung Pyles. The theme for the second week of Advent is Peace. Enjoy ChanMi’s painting and poem, entitled “Peace I Leave with You.”

Day after day,
Year after year,
Century after century,
people like you and me
looked for,
longed for,
searched for peace.

Peace in control,
Peace in surroundings,
Peace in possessions and status,
Peace in relationships,
only to find out
the peace they found
was brutally short-lived
and changed into
another thread of anxiety and worry.

So elusive,
so fleeting
was their peace—
just like the sand in open palms,
the air in surely deflating balloons,
comforting tea held in a clay mug
that quickly turns cold,
evaporates
and vanishes.

Then the tiny baby,
full of heaven’s Light,
on that cold,
dark,
lonely,
but holy night,
entered into the peace-elusory world
as the Prince of Peace,
as the Way of Peace,
as Peace Himself.

“Glory to God
in the highest,
and on earth
peace
to those on whom
His favor rests.”

He says,
“Peace
I leave with you;
My peace—
I give to you.”

Take heart, my child,
Take My peace,
that surpasses
all human understanding,
all human logic,
all human explanations.

Come to Me,
I am your safe dwelling
in the midst of your trials and tribulations.
As you abide in Me,
the Perfect Peace-Giver and Sustainer,
you will find safe pastures
and find rest
for your whole being—
for eternity.

Let My unfailing, unending peace
richly rule in your hearts—
in every crevice,
in every thought,
in every waiting,
in every yearning.

All your years of searching cease here –
in Me,
I am your peace.
I am your peace.
I am—
your peace.