Serenity

In one of the 1994 grand slam tennis tournaments, something unusual happened. It was an example of serenity by a young player.

In one of the more difficult preliminary rounds between PETE SAMPRAS and JIM COURIER (two of the best tennis players in the world), during the fourth set, TIM GULLIKSON, Pete's coach, collapsed and was taken to hospital.

In spite of this, Pete won that match, although in tears, not knowing what was happening to one of his best friends.

In every moment of life, serenity, calmness and interior peace are essential to feeling good about what we are doing.

Lots of people talk about peace, but they only mean the absence of war. God can give us a much deeper quality: peace of the spirit, that remains constant no matter what the circumstances.

You may have experienced it on many occasions - in the midst of the nervousness of life, everything apparently goes very well.

Only God's Spirit can put that kind of peace inside us, because the Bible says that the fruit of the Spirit includes love, joy, and peace. That's the reason why God promises us in Isaiah (26:3), that he 'will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast... '. That's the secret of inner peace: our minds fixed on God.

The writer of the book of Psalms understood this very well when, inspired by God, he said that he only desired one thing: 'to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord'.

When we look towards God, all other things lose their importance. When we gaze upon Jesus, our life fills up with an unlimited peace (remember that he said: 'my peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you').

When we are controlled by the Spirit of God, we understand what peace and rest mean.

And that's not strange: the Holy Spirit is a personal being. It's God himself living inside us. How can we lack peace in all situations, when every moment we can talk to him, look towards him, feel him inside us, and listen to his words?

That's the most beautiful thing that can happen to us in our lives! Inner peace, serenity, calm - what big gifts God has given us!