My final takeaway, and probably the most important. It matters what I think about. If I want to live in the peace of God, without fear, anxiety and worry as my constant companions, it matters where my mind goes.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:6-9

When I read this again, I notice if I want to know the peace of God I must do two things: pray and imitate Paul’s spiritual practices. That means that no matter what is going on around me, my thoughts need to be focused on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise.

This scripture is so familiar it is tempting to breeze over it, barely hearing the truth it contains. Everything I want to experience right now is hidden here. Well, no. It isn’t hidden. It’s right in plain sight. I want to live in the peace of God. I want to experience this peace that is beyond anything I can understand. But if I want to know it, I need to talk to God about what I need, thank him for what he’s already done and then fix my thoughts on what is good.

Read the parameters for life one more time before you start the day. Today, make every thought meet the high standards set in this familiar passage and the unimaginable, sweet, awesome peace of God will be yours!