Tranquility

I consider tranquility to be one of the most beautiful words in the English language. It evokes a spirit of calm and peace within me. Even saying it somehow creates the experience of sereneness. Say it aloud three times slowly: TRANQUILITY. TRANQUILITY. TRANQUILITY. See, feel better?




I have had tranquility on my mind all week. Not entirely sure why. I know one of my greatest heart needs is peace. I have considered how truth is a creator of tranquility. Jesus said that "The Truth will set you free."  In my devotions all week, John Calvin's writings have reminded me of the tranquility that God gives to a soul. Calvin, being Calvin, also writes of the tumult and distress of unbelievers.  

I find this picture of this river in Missoula to be tranquil because it flows clean and pure. It is not stagnant and putrid. Peace in the process of navigating the rapids of life.    

Lies cause conflict and contentiousness. Although it is quite the fact that truth-tellers often are faced with conflict from outside as a result of being truthful.We all want truth, until we get it. Then, it might be disruptive.    

Yet, if the conscience is clear, then adversity does not arise from our own  waywardness and that in someway allows us to keep it at arm's length, outside of the boat so to speak. I decided when I was 18 years old that I would do my best to be truthful as a life goal, to not knowingly mislead someone to believe something that I knew to be untrue.
 
I would say that I have struggled at times with not exaggerating or presenting a best possible outcome on something yet to to finalized. In searching myself though, it hardly was and is malice that caused me to do so. Naivete more like it. And it hurt to be accused as lying in some of these scenarios.

I have become much more cautious about predicting positive outcomes in regards to timeframes and results. Just because I didn't intend to mislead someone about something, does not mean that they won't see it that way. And it opens me up for scrutiny.

It is best to be  hopeful but also communicate that this hope does not mean everything will work out as planned. It is helpful to be humble about our endeavors and anticipate that most tasks take more time than we think, cost more than we expected, and have downsides that we didn't anticipate.  
 

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