“Success is peace of mind.” — John Wooden

I was listening to a book this morning during my run, and heard this quote from the legendary coach, John Wooden.

A quick glance at Coach Wooden’s accomplishments at UCLA makes the quote even more powerful: under Wooden’s guidance, the Bruins set all-time records including four perfect 30-0 seasons, 88 consecutive victories, 38 straight NCAA tournament victories, and ten national championships, including seven in a row.

Clearly, the man was successful, and yet he didn’t define success as the things he accomplished, but as the peace he had while he accomplished those things.

In our fast-paced, win-now-or-be-fired culture, Wooden’s quote is a powerful reminder that we can do plenty of things externally, but it’s what we possess internally that defines us as a success or a failure.

In the words of another successful person, peace that passes our understanding, but guards our minds (that’s from Philippians 4:7).

We’re well into one of my favorite times of the year (“Hello, Christmas!”), and to make it even better, later this week I’ll be officiating my son’s wedding. If I were any happier, there’d be two of me!

Normally, I spend a lot of time looking at the lights on the tree, and in the windows, and on the counters (we love lights, y’all!) as I ponder the mystery of the infinite God becoming finite like us on that first Christmas. But this year, there’s also been a lot of time spent thinking about how what I’m getting ready to do is a small picture of what God did when Jesus was born in the manger.

No, the wedding won’t be on a farm surrounded by noisy, smelly animals. But at the wedding, I’m the Father giving his son to his son’s bride, and that’s a lot like what God the Father did a couple of thousand years ago. He gave His Son to the world so that His Son could find His bride (that’s the church).

But unlike the wedding this weekend, the bride of God’s Son wasn’t looking to marry Him. In fact, we were looking for Him at all (except maybe to kill Him). Check out what Paul calls us in Romans 5…

Powerless. Ungodly. Sinners. God’s enemies.

We were in the middle of a big family feud, and God sent Jesus to bring us shalom.

Peace.

Not peace because He got rid of us so that He would no longer hear us fighting, but peace because He reconciled us to Himself and others and would no longer need to fight.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭9‬:‭6, emphasis mine)

Jesus is the Prince of Peace. The Prince of shalom.

He has come to destroy the walls that divide us so that He can become the bridge that unites us, and that’s the real Christmas miracle.

This weekend, I’ll stand in front of Will and Corey and smile at the way they’ll look at each other. They’ll exchange vows and rings, and they’ll be excited the whole time at the thought of being together for the rest of their lives. Why? Because they love each other, and the two will become one.

But the greater picture of shalom is when two (or three, or four, or hundreds) can become one after years of being enemies. That’s the miracle of shalom, and when the world sees that picture of peace on earth, it’ll be hard to keep them from wanting to learn more about how they can have it, too.

In a culture of outrage, mobs are too easily formed, and sometimes, lives are too easily damaged. That was my first thought as I read an article in the New York Times about the infamous “Victoria’s Secret Karen” video that went viral a couple of years ago.

I’m not going to take the time to educate you about the meme culture that labels certain white women as “Karens” along with videos of their behavior. That’s what Google is for. I also won’t recap the entire story about the incident that happened in the New Jersey Victoria’s Secret. That’s what this link is for.

It is important to note that the woman who was videoed and outed as a whining, aggressive Karen that day, is actually a legally disabled woman with a long history of medical and psychological conditions. Instead of being upset with a black woman for bothering her, she was afraid that a posted video would cause her to be kicked out of her apartment in a complex reserved for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Clearly, there are times when racist behavior needs to be brought to light, and I’m thankful that so many of us carry the means to do that with us everywhere we go. There are so many positives that come out of holding people accountable for their actions.

But what happens when we rush to judgment? When, instead of being slow to anger, we’re quick to post? Lives that need our help become targets of our outrage, and, I would argue, everyone loses.

My brother lived with disabilities. I minister regularly to adults living with disabilities. And while the woman who recorded the video, posted the video, and earned money from the video, had no way of knowing the mental and emotional state of the woman she was filming, she does now. And so does the virtual mob that added harassing calls and death threats to the mix.

I don’t know what the answer is in the specific case of the Victoria’s Secret Karen. I’d like to think the lawsuit against the disabled woman would be dropped by the woman who was attacked now that she knows the rest of the story, but that’s for the lawyers to work out.

But we can – and I would argue, as apprentices of Jesus, must – learn the lessons of scripture, and the value of slowing down the viral toxicity by being people of peace.

“A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but one slow to anger calms strife.” (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭15‬:‭18‬ ‭CSB, emphasis mine)

“My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,” (James‬ ‭1‬:‭19‬ ‭CSB, emphasis mine)

Today, let’s practice the slow things that bring peace more than the quick things that destroy it.