By Christie Skoorsmith 
Seattle, Washington, USA 

Peace, for me, is not stillness that passes understanding or a meditative moment—not usually, anyway. As a full-time working mom of three teenagers, I find peace is much messier than that. 

My house is full of doors slamming, clothes disappearing, group chats dinging, homework stress, sports events, social drama, college planning, and the never-ending “What’s for dinner?” 

But in the chaos, I have learned something surprising: Peace is not the absence of noise. Peace is God’s presence among all the human moments of our lives. 

Being a parent of teenagers forces me to move from a language of certainty, used when the kids were little, to a language of inquiry as I find myself living with young people who experience the world through their own lens with their own concepts of peace. To them, peace is sharing the new song, meeting friends, or working through a relationship issue. 

Peace is not the absence of noise. Peace is God’s presence among all the human moments of our lives.

Peace is embodied in how we choose to treat one another when we’re stressed, tired, overwhelmed, or hurting. Peace, for them, is the commitment to love one another when we’re not at our best. This is not a quiet and calm peace. This is a messy, loud, obnoxious, but still transformative peace. 

I am reminded of a time when the family dynamic had fallen apart. Feelings were hurt, sides were taken, territories claimed. Everyone was in a bad mood, and the situation was deteriorating rapidly. Suddenly, one of the kids said something that came out funny. There was a pause, and then we all started to laugh. It was exactly what we needed. 

The tension relaxed and we found commonality again. The focus shifted toward forgiveness and acceptance instead of staking a moral claim. This is messy peace. It is the experience of bringing wholeness and healing to messy, complicated situations and finding a better place. Teenagers are good at messy peace. 

Community of Christ teaches that peace isn’t just a spiritual concept; it’s our sacred calling. We are dedicated to the “pursuit of peace.” For us, it’s a way of living. In a busy household, messy peace looks like deliberately slowing down, even when you stubbornly want to push on. It’s pausing before reacting when stretched to your limit. It’s being the first to admit you misunderstood, even if you “know” you didn’t. Or the one to say something silly that gets everyone laughing. 

This is not a quiet and calm peace. This is a messy, loud, obnoxious, but still transformative peace.

Messy peace is: 

• Choosing gentleness when frustration feels easier. 

• Making room for honest emotions, especially the hard ones, without shame. 

• Treating one another like souls of worth instead of problems to solve. 

• Not perfect. My house isn’t orderly, serene, and scripture-perfect holy. It’s much more like holy chaos. But God shows up in it. 

• Hearing laughter after a tense argument, or siblings apologizing awkwardly, slowly, sincerely. 

• About letting forgiveness outnumber conflicts and choosing to keep showing up for one another. 

• Speaking up when one child is unheard, creating space for quiet personalities, challenging unkindness, and refusing to normalize cruelty or sarcasm that wounds.  

• Creating a household where justice, compassion, and dignity are practiced in honest conversations about how we treat neighbors, classmates, strangers, and ourselves. 

Peace isn’t an idea somewhere far away; it’s something we build in our own homes, with our own imperfect people.

And there are rare, sacred moments of peaceful stillness, too. Moments when the house is quiet, dishes done, lights dimmed, and I sit and breathe. Those moments restore me. But God is in the slammed doors and loud laughter, the busy schedules and shared exhaustion, too. God is in every ride-home conversation, and late-night pep talk, in every hug that wordlessly says, “You are loved. You belong.” God is in the messy peace. 

Because peace isn’t an idea somewhere far away; it’s something we build in our own homes, with our own imperfect people, with patience, forgiveness, humor, and grace. Messy peace is God’s dream taking root in daily life, right here, right now, in the holy noise of family. And being able to say, with honesty, this is peace, too. Amen. 

Christie Skoorsmith works in International Services and lives in Seattle, Washington, USA, with her husband, three teens, and three cats.