Finding peace in the middle of life's storms

0:00Thanks for wrapping up your week of inspiration with us at the Christian Science Daily Lift. Sharing today is Christian Science practitioner and teacher Madora Kippie. She's from New York, New York. It's easy to be peaceful on a sunny day, but what about during a storm? What if you're in an open sailboat? Would you still feel at peace? Christ Jesus did. A story in the Gospel of Mark reports there arose a great storm of wind and Jesus arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

1:04The truth that Jesus demonstrated that God creates and maintains the universe and all that includes imperfect harmony is provable. No darkness, just light. Many years ago, one of our kids would get really upset unexpectedly about anything and everything. I thought, what am I doing wrong? Why can't I fix this? It was tempting to react and I often did. But prayer isn't about fixing situations. It's about yielding to God's power. So that's where I finally anchored my prayer in yielding to God instead of trying to micromanage emotional outbursts.

2:10One day, this child had a major meltdown and a little portion of a phrase from a poem by Mary Baker Ready who discovered Christian science came to thought. Kiss the cross. I thought, well, my child is cross. So I guess I'd better offer a kiss and I did and hug to no words, just love. That wasn't a literal translation of the cross and he was referring to. But it inspired my practical actions with our child as I prayed to know that God's love was embracing both of us. The meltdown ended. And though that wasn't the last time there was an outburst, for me, it was the beginning of the end of reacting.

3:21The outbursts happened less and less frequently and finally stopped completely. We can live every moment of our lives as a blessing. It's not always easy, but always worth the effort. Because then we can truly live in peace. This podcast is produced by the first church of Christ's scientists and Boston Massachusetts, USA. Copyright 2026.