Turn away from evil 

and do good. 

Search for peace, 

and work to maintain it.

Psalms 34:14 NLT

Often peace, or lack of it, is about something wrong between us. 

I'm wondering if David is pointing us first to an internal peace. 

The word for peace is "shalom" which means  completeness, soundness, welfare, peace. 

Search for shalom.

And when you find it, work to maintain it (because it won't be maintained by doing nothing). 

And he gives us a clue on where to start:

Turn away from evil, turn away from some things. This might be places, things, people, thoughts, choices. 

And do good. Doing good is often actions. Actions towards ourselves or others. 

It's vague, because we're all different and need different "good" at different times of our day, our week, our lives. 

Doing good today might mean working or resting, eating or fasting, giving or receiving, being with people or being on your own. What's "do good" look like for you?

What we turn from and turn towards helps us to find and maintain shalom.

May you find some shalom today. 

#monday

#psalms

#psalm34

#shalom