Peace Better Than Happiness

Peace is far better than happiness. Happiness is primarily that which comes from a good “hap.” “Hap” is an old English word for chance. Tennyson wrote of one “who grasps the skirts of happy chance!” This expresses it exactly. If the “haps” are good, the worldling is happy; if evil “haps” befall him, he is unhappy. But peace is something deeper. It is the opposite of struggling, of warfare and of soul-unrest. It is freedom from strife, or from mental agitation. It is spiritual content such as the Lord promised to the heavy laden, when He said: “Come unto me.... and I will give you rest.”
“O God,” said Augustine, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our souls will never be at rest until they rest in Thee.” And yet most of us spend years in restless seeking before we learn this lesson.