"Oh God, let the world have peace."

The title is a quote from the song "Have Love" by Lost and Found, which I unfortunately could not find on Youtube to share with you. Here's a bit more though: "Stay the fist clenched hand / Help us understand."
Peace has been on my mind lately, in two different ways. First, this morning I was thinking about peace as in the lack of fighting. That application matches my quote a little better. It started as I was thinking about my bioethics class. It's a really interesting class that has helped me gain the information I need to form educated opinions about several major issues. Sometimes I get a little frustrated, because I'm at a Lutheran university and my professor (who is a bit of a stand in for the usual teacher of this particular class) doesn't always tackle the issues from a very Christian point of view. However, I'm thankful that the environment of the class is very open and understanding. Very rarely do we have conflicts during our discussions. Even when discussing heated topics such as abortion, we talk through the different facets of the issue while still recognizing that everyone has a slightly different standpoint. Very non-hostile. I like it.
The second kind of peace I've been thinking about lately goes with this verse: "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7 Sometimes God gives us a mental peace - a sense of calm - that we simply can't understand. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere. Sometimes it comes through someone else. That happened to me this morning. I've been so exhausted and stressed out lately that I feel like I can't relax. But on my way to get something from the coffeeshop on campus I met my favorite professor and had a talk with him. Instead of blowing past me, he asked how I was, and didn't just take "Fine" for an answer. He actually cared about my troubles and told me that he knew I would be fine. This professor is really into students' eyes and facial expressions, and I never really got it until today. He explained that he really believes that the eyes are the window to the soul, and that when he looks at my eyes he sees intelligence, understanding, creativity, and drive. I left that conversation with a feeling of real peace that I haven't felt in a while. I guess it's true, God uses unexpected events and people to show us his love and give us his peace.