Glaucous-winged Gull, Juvenile First Winter, Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, WA USA
As St. Paul wrote these words he had concerns… concerns about the faithful, concerns about his beloved friends, concerns about his health, concerns about where his next meal was to come from, concerns about his outcome in prison… but he remained hopeful, he remained at peace.
At the core of this peace was his understanding that the one through which all things were made, Jesus Christ, loved him so much that Jesus died for him. This gave Paul a two fold peace, first that God loved him and secondly that Paul, himself, having been made in the image and likeness of God, was worthy of such a love. Knowing this St. Paul could face his problems, doing what he could do to resolve his concerns, and then, for those things that were outside of his scope, giving them to God with “prayer, petition and thanksgiving”.