I stood in line outside of Josh’s Sno Shack.

I wanted one last taste of icy goodness before the chill of fall stretched itself out like a stray cat across the porch of my still-warm afternoons. I wanted a treat, just a small reward, for all the hardships of this past season.

But I couldn’t decide on anything.

The menu was a cluttered mess of names and confusing flavor combinations. It read Hawaiian Knockout, Center of the Universe, Pinkalicious Plunder, Love on the Rocks, and on and on. Even the kids’ menu was confusing. Sponge Bob, Barney, Charlie Brown, Casper the Friendly Ghost.

What are these? I thought. Why do they have to complicate things so?

But life is complicated. And we so often choose to complicate it further, even to the point of confusion, chaos, indecisiveness, and exhaustion. Perhaps today, God is calling us back to the simple. Perhaps He’s wooing you and me back to the simple reality that He loves us. Fully, unconditionally, enthusiastically, and unrestrained.

We don’t have to complicate His love. It just is. And we don’t have to let the complicated things of this life burden us or overwhelm us either. We can bring them all to Him.

1 Corinthians 14:33 says, “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (ESV).

Peace is what He’s offering you and me today. Not a ‘piece’ of peace but the whole of it as we choose to embrace Him—to rest in the simplicity of His love, to simply love others, and to leave everything else in His hands. Life may be complicated for you right now, but God is with you. Life may be full of burdens, but He wants to carry them for you.

Let Him wrap His arms around you today. Let Him hold you.

And let Him be your Prince of Peace.

*Originally published by The Joyful Life Magazine.