“ Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God.”
Matthew 5:9
PEACE, my son’s first unspoken word. The one word I prayed into him when pregnant and breastfeeding him. The peace of 2019 seems swallowed by the chaos of 2020 with pandemic, panic and protest. My little toddler stumbling into a chaotic world. My goal as a mother: to teach him to walk in peace.
“Why am I angry?” Social media and news leaves me dishearten. The unjust usage of disease and discrimination as a platform for power rather as an opportunity to reconcile our seemingly separated society, attacks personal peace. Currently, anyone with a social media account and a soul hurts for the prejudice and racism still prevalent in the Land of the Free. The extent that these issues are being utilized as a political pawn to divide rather than unite our diverse communities, is up to each individual discernment. However, this the truth I know: peace comes from the Invisible One not the visible many. Government cannot implement peace nor can institutions enforce it. Peace, a fruit of the Spirit comes from the Spirit so must be spiritually cultivated. Change starts small , a pebble in our own selves. The start of the ripple affect: peace in myself, my household, my neighborhood, my city, my state, my nation, and the world.
Internal reflection: “I’m starting with the man in the mirror.”
What behaviors do you feel ashamed about in yourself? Often when our souls are restless we rage against loved ones. Impatience overflows from a heart lacking patience, anger from a heart lacking humility, and bitterness from a heart lacking forgiveness. I often keep unrealistic expectations of myself with achieving on my to do list- trying to clean, keep up teaching online and my one and half year old, leave me resenting the disruption of others and situations that prevent me checking off my to-do list. My impatient pride values my time above others. My bitterness from past teaching jobs that left me jaded as an educator with lack of administrative support and curriculum that hindered my students, steams from a lack of forgiveness. So, I confess and ask for God’s grace to transform my soul- looking towards the cross and asking for the strength to carry my own. With a humbled heart I open up my schedule with less chores and prioritizing prayer, exercise and playtime- the external actions for my internal serenity. Thus, to curate the fruits of the Spirit, I nourish what God. My peace ripples into my son’s life, my husband’s, our home.
So my challenge during this year of external crises, is to seek internal cure: confession of your own flaws and seeking becoming a peacemaker by being a peaceful person.
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