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The Lord is near.\xa0 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.\xa0 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5b-7)

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A strange thing can happen when we know we should talk to someone, but don\u2019t.\xa0 Maybe we need to talk to them because we see or know that they\u2019re struggling.\xa0 Maybe there\u2019s a tension or disagreement unresolved between us.\xa0 Maybe we owe them something. \xa0Maybe it\u2019s simply the fact that it\u2019s an important relationship that we want to keep up with.

Whatever the case, the longer we go without talking to that person, the harder it becomes to reach out and do it.\xa0 I\u2019m not exactly sure why.\xa0 Maybe we get used to telling ourselves that we\u2019ll do it later.\xa0 Maybe the conversation feels too big or too important to try to squeeze into any of the moments we have and so we wait for an opportune moment that just never seems to come.\xa0 Or, maybe we build up a story in our head that they\u2019re frustrated or angry with us for not talking to them, and that makes it all the harder to reach out.

I think I\u2019ve been guilty of all of these at some point.\xa0 And, most of the time, when I do finally talk to that person I\u2019ve been avoiding, it brings relief.\xa0 We take steps to resolve our issues, we\u2019re encouraged by each other, I discover that they weren\u2019t nearly as upset at me as I had imagined, finding sometimes that they didn\u2019t even realize anything was wrong, making it clear in an instant that I\u2019d been agonizing over nothing.\xa0 Sometimes there\u2019s nothing to it, but to do it.\xa0 To just reach out and talk.\xa0 Sometimes that the quickest way to peace.

I think that same dynamic plays itself out in our relationship with God, too.\xa0 We know we should talk to him.\xa0 It\u2019s an important relationship.\xa0 We owe him our thanks.\xa0 Perhaps we feel a tension between us of some guilt or sin that needs confessing on our side, or something we\u2019re frustrated at God about that he seemingly hasn\u2019t held up on his.\xa0

The longer we go without talking, the harder it is.\xa0 And yet, when we do, more often than not what we walk away with after is his peace that transcends all understanding.\xa0

So Paul reminds us, the Lord has already drawn near to us.\xa0 He has already redeemed us and adopted us as his very own in Christ Jesus, making all the peace there ever needs to be between he and us already.\xa0 So, no need to be anxious about coming to God in prayer.\xa0 He\u2019s already taken the first step.\xa0 He\u2019s already confirmed his love and forgiveness to us in Christ.\xa0

So, come to him.\xa0 Talk to him.\xa0 Today.\xa0 And let his peace in Jesus that transcends understanding meet you and guard your hearts and minds as you journey on.

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