Connections&  
May 20--Sixth Sunday of Easter

• "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you& Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid."        John 14:23-29
  

     Take a look around where you are sitting and see if you can find five things that have blue in them.  Go ahead and do it.  With a "blue" mindset, you'll find that blue jumps out at you:  a blue book on the table, someone's blue tie or scarf, a blue thread on the drapes, a blue hue in a painting that you have looked at a hundred times, but have barely noticed.
     You've probably found that after you buy a car or a new suit or dress or a new stereo, you promptly see that same car model, that same designer label and color, that same make of stereo just about everywhere you look.
     Or you're wondering whether it's time to look for or build a new house, or you're contemplating a major remodeling of your present home.  With ideas buzzing around your head, you begin to see the houses in your own town and neighborhood with new eyes.  You find yourself tuning into shows like This Old House and Home and Garden television.  You find yourself engrossed in magazine articles on decorating and remodeling that you would usually flip right past.  You find yourself striking up conversations with and asking questions of carpenters, decorators, architects and homeowners who have taken on projects like the one you are considering.  And, of course, you surf the Internet for hours in search of plans, photographs and ideas to help you pull your  vision together.
     The simple reality is that we always manage to find what we are looking for.
   [Suggested by A Kick in the Seat of the Pants by Roger von Oech.]

CONNECTION:  The peace that Jesus leaves us is not a passive acquiescence to the absence of hostility and conflict; the peace of Jesus is a mindset, a constant seeking out of God's presence in all things and places, and awareness of love, justice and mercy, an understanding of our "connectedness" to God and to one another as children of the same God.  Peace, as given by Christ, is a perspective that shapes all of our actions, behavior and values.  May such a mindset of peace, such an understanding of love, dwell forever in our hearts and spirits in this Easter season and in every season.