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Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Waiting for #Peace During Advent Season

Ten years ago, this week, I wrote a post with the same title (except the Sunday Stills part). Today I’m resharing parts of the post with images depicting peace.

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If we were having coffee, I would ask you to sit with me for a moment and chat about our difficulties in waiting. Do you like to wait? I don’t. To me, it is time wasted. I usually multitask while waiting by reading, doodling, deleting stuff from my phone… you know. I am very impatient. Definitely a character flaw.

If we were having coffee, I would remind you that a host of bloggers have posted about the recent, tragic events in the form of mass shootings and terrorism all over the world (from 2015–still true today!). As our hearts go out to the victims and families who have suffered injury and death, we simply long for peace.

peaceful lake

Unfortunately, we all know the world will go the way it will, not the way you or I would have it. So we must wait.

Glimpses of Peace in This World

Do you find peace in a sunrise or a sunset?

Baja Mexico Sunrise
Baja Mexico Sunrise
Day is Done
Delta Sunset

** “We can bring peace to these dark days. We can be a light for others to see by.” – Janet Sunderland. Community of the Incarnation **

Finding Peace in Nature

Looking up in Antelope Canyon
Peaceful Antelope Canyon 2024
people walking dogs in the snow
Winter Dog-Walking
Sand
Peaceful beach walk

** “I don’t think we can ever give up hope of finding peace. Although it might be decades or even longer, we have to believe that it is possible.” ~ Edwina **

boys and dog

** “We all hope and pray for peace. With all the terrorism and other violent events in this world we wonder if it will ever happen. Even so, I think it is important that we live our lives in spreading peace, love, and goodwill.” ~ PJ **

Along the continuum of religious belief, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, Atheist, or somewhere in between, you and I will wait for peace. We will likely wait our entire lives. Our children may wait their whole lives.

Second Week of Advent

On this second Sunday of Advent, as Christians light the second candle, we celebrate and pray for peace. Now more than ever, we need peace in our world. Regardless of your spiritual orientation, as humans, we long for peace on this planet.

The Advent season is also about waiting. During Advent, we’re reminded of all those centuries when God’s people awaited the fulfillment of God’s promises, the years of uncertainty, the time of doubt.

The second Advent candle is called the Bethlehem candle, or the candle of peace. ✨

advent candles

“The time before Christmas is Advent, a season of preparation for Christmas. Christians prepare for celebrating the birth of Jesus by remembering the longing of the Jews for a Messiah. In Advent, we’re reminded of how much we ourselves also need a Savior, and we look forward to our Savior’s second coming even as we prepare to celebrate his first coming at Christmas. The word “Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming” or “visit.” From the blog of Patheos by Mark D Roberts.

If you would like to know more about the celebration of Advent, read Fascinating Mystery for more information.

** I’ve included a few comments from bloggers who shared their thoughts on peace in the original 2015 post. Apply these comments to today, and they still ring true. **

Sharing this week for Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, Sadje and Kym’s Wednesday Quotes: Celebrating Holidays.

holly border

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link to a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

If you are participating in the photo challenge, I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore the colors of red and green for the monthly color challenge.

May we all find the peace we crave during this time of reflection, regardless of the wait.

advent candles for Christmas season
Winter bitmoji

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© 2025 Copyright — Terri Webster Schrandt and secondwindleisure.com — All Rights Reserved

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101 comments

  10. A great theme choice, Terri. I’ve taken up meditation, particularly healing meditation, and finding peace is a large part of the process. If we can share peace and calm with one another, then hope soon follows, I think.

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  13. Our sermon was about peace this week – chaos, too. but the idea was that peace comes within chaos when you pray for God’s help. The chaos may still be there, but in your heart, there’s peace. I definitely felt that both times when I was told I had cancer. I definitely was concerned, but I also had an inner peace that is inexplicable other than God’s gift. So great to talk this week. You brought peace into my little upheaval working with technology. It was amazing that after talking for just a couple of minutes, my anxiousness was gone.

    The problem was still there, and eventually I realized what it was – something super simple, but unbelivably hidden. When I used bullet points in Google docs, and I cut and pasted it into MailChimp, the block got wider. When I took out the bullet points, the margins returned.

    Peace in Chaos.

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    • Hi Marsha! The comment came up anonymous but I figured it was you! Chaos is all around us, but when God has our hearts, peace lives there full time. A good lesson to remember. I read your newsletter and everything looked really good! Glad you found the issue. Bullet points throw off many formatting attempts.
      Hope you enjoyed the movie, bestie!

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  14. Terri,

    Beautiful post and pictures. I love the falling snow over the Advent candles. Regarding your comment about patience–every morning I ask the Good Lord to give me patience. The problem is…I can’t wait around for it to get there! Have a great week! Joe

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  18. Thank you for your lovely post, Terri. Peace seems such a simple thing to come by, yet unfortunately it eludes us. Peace, and light my friend, and enjoy your holidays. 💗

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  19. Likewise, I dislike wasting any time, Terri. As an aunt once said to me, ‘Every second is precious.’ And she is so right, so why waste any of them? Likewise, I never get bored, because being bored is such a waste of time. Now, if only we could make boredom and wasting time things of the past.

    Have a great week, Terri.

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  20. Hi Terri
    Thank you for this lovely and blessed post. Like you I pray for peace not only during advent but all year round . Sadly I don’t believe we will see true peace in our life time. All we can do is pray that it will come… Maybe God or whatever there is out there will bless us with peace. So for now let’s all pray and be kind to each other. 💜 Happy Christmas 💜

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  24. I’ve noticed over many years that “all” animals fight….all, including our species.

    Now, having said that, are we fighting more per capita……..probably.

    Our species has dominated this planet because of our aggression and you just can’t shut that switch off. I guess It’s a double edged sword.

    If all we had were clubs, we might be able to tolerate that , but because of that BIG brain of ours we are our own worst enemy.

    Peace is fleeting and seemingly always just outside our reach.

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  30. Hi Terri – for some reason, some of my comments are going to SPAM. It happened for most of the comments I made while in Reader on Friday night. Usually, if a comment goes into moderation here at your site, I can still see it and right now I don’t and it’s been awhile so you might want to check your SPAM folder. Sigh.

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      • It didn’t show up when I looked but then you responded a few minutes later. It is weird! I added a blurb at the end of today’s post in case it happens again, but this is a long post and people may not see that line. I always check that my comment is there before I “like” it. So people don’t wonder why I “liked” and didn’t comment.

        I subscribe to my blog so I know if the e-mail goes out and the last two posts have gone to my e-mail SPAM folder – that boggles my mind. I was just in Duo and it looks like I can no longer see the items to celebrate for people I’m following. This just happened when it rolled over at 10:00 p.m. to a new week. That’s weird as well. Oh well – I am back in Obsidian League. 🙂

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      • Good blogger etiquette for both of us Terri. Now all my comments have been fished out of SPAM. One time at a big holiday, my post was not in Reader. I had put a lot of work into that post and it did not show up. I contacted WP and they said “eventually it will show up” … well for people who only read posts through Reader, it was way back in the queue so they didn’t see it. So I just popped onto Duo and see the glitch is fixed now, but it was not earlier when I was there.

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  31. Peace is so elusive these days Terri – we all long for more peace and contentment, but it is difficult to settle our minds … mine anyway. I used to find peace in nature, but that peace seems fragmented now by things I cannot control, climate change for one. The old haunts are not the same, no matter where I go and it is disconcerting to me since I once could tune out the noise from the rest of the world and find some peace. But no matter where I go anymore, that is lacking. A few weeks ago as I drove down a busy street on a weekday morning, some guy started honking his horn wildly, as we drove along, stopping at each of the endless lights the same as me. Luckily there were other cars around and after I looked at him the first time, didn’t recognize him, refused to do more than glance to see if he was still there. Then I quit stealing a glance as he continued to honk the horn. Just as I decided to turn and get away, he turned. It made no sense. No, he was not alerting me to a car problem either – just a crazy person. As I sat here tonight reading this post I heard noise … fireworks, gunshots? No words. No telling. Sunrises are more peaceful – a clean slate and a chance to begin anew.

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    • If anything is constant its change, Linda. Maybe the driver was bonkers! We lived close to a trail bordered by properties and was such a peaceful walk. The nice land owners sold the 20 acres to a known “slum lord” who charges people $$ to live off the grid. On a walk, he approached me telling me I was on private property. Despite my apology and walking away, he got in his car and followed me for a bit while yelling. I was terrified. It bothered me for a while and I mentioned the incident to the other neighbors and they just ignore him. I dont walk there any longer, he put up a gate. I walk other areas now but I refused to let him steal my joy. Better to drive to the Centennial Trail on state and other DNR lands these days.

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      • Change is constant – sometimes good, sometimes bad. There are always people out there trying to steal your joy Terri. I was driving along, a gorgeous day and looking forward to a long walk with the camera. I took this route purposely as I had to pass through two quaint business districts and I was looking if Christmas decorations were up yet. It tainted the start to my day as we have a lot of people with road rage with guns, but usually on the expressway, as they shoot and drive off at the next exit. Like you I was terrified and there were other drivers all around me – were they watching what was happening? I couldn’t help but wonder. I’m glad you have other areas to walk, as do I.

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  32. This reflection feels like a deep, calming breath in a noisy world—your words remind us that peace often begins in waiting.
    I love how nature, faith, and hope quietly weave together here with such grace.
    Thank you for this beautiful reminder; I’d be grateful if you visited my blog and shared your thoughts as well.

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  33. Lovely, Terri. Yes, waiting is most difficult, and yet the Lord tells us so often to ‘Wait’, doesn’t He? I teach horseback riding lessons, I tell my students all the time “It is harder to stand still than to move,” not only for we humans but animals as well. God knows how to teach us well, would you agree? Your photos, as always, are superb!

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  37. If we were having coffee I’d tell you how much I’m missing Trent. I’m surprised by how much, actually, because I didn’t really know him but I read his coffee shares and he read my random stuff randomly. I feel so sad that he’s not enjoying the puppy and the snow and his family this holiday season. Anyway…I enjoyed your coffee share too. I’ve been to Antelope Canyon, isn’t it AMAZING? We have snow here, lots more than we’ve had lately at this time of year. I’m already nearly over winter and it’s not nearly over.

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    • When I wrote that post in 2015, a blogger called “Part-time Monster” hosted weekend coffee share. She stopped and I believe that’s when Trent took over. I think its especially sad this year remembering our blog friends who we lost this year 😦 Thank you for your lovely comment, Dawn, and enjoy a peaceful Sunday.

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  38. Such a gentle and heartfelt reflection. Your post beautifully weaves together patience, grief, hope, and the quiet power of nature. The way you revisit your own words a decade later gives the message even more depth.

    Your images and thoughts remind us that even in a world full of chaos, peace still shows itself—in sunrises, in canyons, in still water, and in the small moments we pause long enough to feel. A truly calming and thoughtful piece.

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  47. Wow! 10 years on and nothing much has changed- the wars and violence is still making headlines. I do hope we get to see a world that is peaceful in our lifetime. Lovely quote. Thanks for sharing

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  50. Thank you Terri for highlighting Peace and the Advent theme of waiting. Peace is a precious gift that everyone should have the freedom to enjoy, I believe.

    I love all the photos in your gallery, Antelope Canyon is both mesmerizing and magical, great photo!

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  52. Believers are all weary of the hate and violence that the evil one is causing. This world needs the return of Jesus so badly, Terri. I pray you and yours will have a Peaceful CHRISTmas!

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