Island of Peace

“The individual lives his life in the midst of a wide variety of stresses and strains.  There are many tasks in which he is engaged that are not meaningful to him even though they are important in secondary ways.  There are many responsibilities that are his by virtue of training, or family, or position.  Again and again, decisions must be made as to small and large matters; each one involves him in devious ways.  No one is ever free from the peculiar pressures of his own life.  Each one has to deal with the evil aspects of life, with injustices inflicted upon him and injustices which he wittingly or unwittingly inflicts upon others.  We are all deeply involved in the throes of our own weaknesses and strengths, expressed often in the profoundest conflicts within our own souls.  The only hope for surcease, the only possibility of stability for the person, is to establish an Island of Peace within one’s own soul.”  Howard Thurman

An ever-needed, beautifully written acknowledgement that while life is tough on the living, though we are tossed about on life’s sea, respite from the storm is available —   “establish an Island of Peace within one’s own soul.”