Easter Time... a time for peace

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I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
~ Psalm 120:7

I wish that peace were as simple as asking for it, but we all know better.  Peace is something that must be worked at in order to achieve.

Years ago a commercial suggested "buying the world a coke," would be the beginning of peace and harmony.  Today we spend billions of dollars, deploy soldiers, men and women, all over the world, just so that there might be peace.  There are no guarantees.  There are acres containing the graves of people who believed that peace was possible, who often sacrificed their lives bearing the belief for more than just the idea of peace.
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For me, the perfect image of peace doesn't necessarily involve the world.  It does not include surrounding myself in silence.  Instead, it is seeing my children happy and healthy.  It is knowing that my neighbor after being without work for the past seven months is back to work.  It's seeing people who once were polarized by a situation suddenly realizing that the things they hold in common will sustain a conversation that lasts for more than an eight-second sound byte, and that there is truly a place to begin a real dialogue.

The need for peace exists everywhere.  Our world, communities, and families... oh, and the church!  Let's not forget the place that is to be a refuge for such things!

While we ask God each day to provide guidance, love, hope, and a number of other things, we should also be seeking peace.  Battlefields, court rooms, and the government are littered by bloody battles that seem to overwhelm and consume us.  Being the voice for peace doesn't always involve silence.  Sometimes it is offering up not only a prayer, but our voice as well.

When we speak of peace, it is invoking a change.  It involves many things, but mostly, a desire to fulfill some great prayer for a better place to be for all of God's creation!

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

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Dear Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, and may real peace begin today with me.  Amen.

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