Adapt. Adjust. Learn the language, the culture, the appropriate way to dress. Eat the food (at least some of it) and accept the invitations. Learn the greetings and watch your body language.

The list could go on as we adapt to a new culture and try to show our love and respect to our new neighbors. We try to break down barriers and not build new ones through inappropriate responses.

And yet one way that we can radically stand out is leading lives marked by peace. Humans usually experience striving. There is striving to make ends meet and manage oppression or striving to achieve more and be more and somehow fill the void. Either way, and everything in between, does not lead to the peace of God.

Philippians 4:6 tell us to pray about everything: every concern, every fear, every annoyance, every anxiety. This means we don’t have to solve it ourselves. We can be like my son who asks for my help with his lists of concerns because he knows I’ll help him prioritize his tasks and understand his homework and print his permission forms and get him to practice on time. We get to be children with our Father who knows how to handle any problem we bring.

We come with a posture of thankfulness. We choose to remember (maybe by writing it down) things we are grateful for, ways that we see God’s faithfulness and care and provision and love. We choose thankfulness.

And what do we get in return? We get a peace that does not make sense, a peace that defies the struggles of the world, a peace straight from God (Philippians 4:7). And what’s more is that this peace will guard our hearts and minds. This peace will guard our longings and our thoughts. This peace will help our affections and our thoughts to turn toward our Father and away from the striving the world offers.

Truly counter-cultural.