One can not reflect in streaming water.  

Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.   

 Lao Tzu

I love the Kung Fu Panda movies!  The whole premise of the second movie is Po's search for inner peace - a search Master Shifu undergoes in the first movie.  In fact, my favorite character in the original Kung Fu Panda is Master Oogway, the wise, old turtle.  Oogway made reference to this Lao Tzu quote when he stirred the water in the reflecting pond in order to teach Shifu about inner peace.  I'd like to be an Oogway when I grow up, floating in a cloud of pink peach blossoms!  I also search for inner peace.  It is a worthy journey, but not one made in a day.  After all, Master Oogway was a century old!

In all seriousness; do you ever feel as if you've lost your center?  As if you've lost your direction?  As if you don't know what you want to do with the rest of your life?  I do.  Here are some Master Oogway quotes that address some of the things that cause a loss of focus:

Oogway: My friend, the panda will never fulfill his destiny, nor you yours until you let go of the illusion of control.
Shifu: Illusion?
Oogway: Yes. [pointing at peach tree] Look at this tree, Shifu: I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time.
Shifu: But there are things we can control: I can control when the fruit will fall, I can control where to plant the seed: that is no illusion, Master!
Oogway: Ah, yes. But no matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.

One of the biggest sources of frustration and sorrow I encounter in my counseling practice is the nature of human beings to want to control things they cannot control - and I include myself in that assessment.  I cannot control other people.  I can learn to control myself.  I cannot control everything that happens to me.  I can control how I choose to respond to what happens to me.  I cannot control God's will. I can seek to learn His will and to align my will with His. 

If the people I love make poor choices and suffer painful consequences, I cannot fix their mistakes or take away those consequences without damaging both them and me.  I can love them and encourage them; pray with and for them; weep for them and hold them when they weep.  But I cannot "fix" things that are ultimately their problems to fix.  That is one of the most powerless feelings in the world and one that so often stands in the way of inner peace.

Oogway: One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.

Remember the story of Jonah in the Old Testament?  I'm sure you do.  Jonah tried to run away from God - from his destiny - but he learned that a man cannot run away from God.  Jonah met God in the belly of a large fish and ultimately fulfilled his destiny.  Even then, Jonah was not happy.  Jonah had some serious inner peace issues! 

Are there things you know you should do, but you don't want to do them, so you don't?  Have you ever ended up in the very situation you were trying to avoid?  That usually happens to me when I take my eyes of the Savior.  When I get into "I" speak - I need; I want; I did; I don't - me, me, me.  You can't hit the bulls-eye in life if you take your eye off the target.  I don't know how you find your focus again, but I have found a few things that work for me:

• Return to the scriptures;  read them deeply and daily
• Be more faithful in my prayers; God is not a celestial Santa Claus and when I treat Him that way, I always lose sight of the target
• Take time for myself to mediate; find those places and situations that bring a peaceful feeling; find the deep ahhhhh sighs in life
• Reflect on my blessings
• Serve someone else

Po: Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles.
Oogway: Quit, don't quit? Noodles, don't noodles? You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the "present."

It is so difficult for me to remain in the present!  My brain is always running ahead of me at about mach 3!  One of my sisters once asked me if it was scary living in my brain.  It's not, by the way, but sometimes I wish I could get it to stop thinking for just 5 seconds and let me rest!  There is a difference between wise planning and obsessing about the future.  I just need to learn how to do it!

Another thing that used to bother me a lot more than it does now is worrying about the past.  I used to rehearse every tiny mistake - mine and other people's - over and over ad nauseum until I drove myself nuts.  What a revelation it was the day I realized that I could not go back and change the past!  What a blessing!  It was as if a huge weight had lifted off of my soul and I could breathe again.  If there were things for which repentance is necessary, then repent fully and let it go.  God promises that He will remember our sins no more, so why should we harrow up our souls for sins He has forgotten?  If you don't know how to differentiate between what has and has not be repented of, counsel with God in prayer and with your ecclesiastical leader when necessary.

I have learned to let go of past pain.  Now I just need to do the same for the future and stop worrying and start living!

Oogway: There are no accidents.

Shifu: You've said that already - twice.
Oogway: And that is no accident!
Shifu:  Thrice.

Some of my favorite scriptures circle around this issue.  I am in God's hands.  I've just got to learn to trust Him more.  Here are a few of my faves:

• Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made know unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippeans 4: 6-7
• I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippeans 4:13
• These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribultion; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16: 33
• I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Isaiah 49:16

Enough said ~ ~ ~

All scripture quotes are from the KJV

Photo credits:

Japanese garden pond from www.oregonscenics.com

Christ's hands from www.coverwithhishands.wordpress.com