I have been spending a lot of time this summer thinking about Matthew 5, it seems to be a pretty important piece in our spiritual history. With the political season heating up, being a peacemaker is not on many people's personal radar. As I am trying to develop each area of my life, my spiritual goal is to learn to be a peacemaker in my relationship and my job. At least for me the trick is to make peace without selling out or loosing who I am but having the strength to walk through situations until there is resolution. Somehow that seems to be very risky and exciting at the same time. However peace work has huge benefits.
Being a peacemaker takes moral courage.
Being a peacemaker goes against the flow of culture.
Being a peacemaker helps us uncover who we are.
Being a peacemaker helps us earn trust and gain confidence.
Being a peacemaker is hard work.
Desmond Tutu once said of making peace:
True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the pain, the degradation, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end dealing with the real situation helps to bring real healing.
I know that each time I had the spiritual imagination to see beyond the present conflict into a place of peace, life became more vivid and ultimately better...not just for me but for others as well. An instant of pain changed to moments of peace.
Robert Fulgum retells the story of Dr. Papaderos' class at the Institute for Reconcilliation. It was the final day of the Institute and questions were flying. A student jokingly asked, 'what is the meaning of life?' Out of his pocket, Papaderos pulled a small peice of mirror. Papaderos had found the mirror when he was a small boy and kept it all these years. He told the class how he used it as a play toy shining the reflective light into dark places, the places into where no light could find it way. As Papaderos grew, this became a game where he would see a dark place that was seemingly inaccessible and pull out his mirror peice to try to shine light into the darkness. As Papaderos grew he began to understand that this was not a game but a powerful metaphor for the meaning of life. If Papaderos focused his life on reflecting 'light' into dark places, he found meaning...as others found God.
Matthew 5 makes the claim that we are created in the image of God, we are unique shapes who can reflect Jesus' love and grace into places of darkness and hoplessness, into hearts of other human beings. The truest and sweetest peace I have found is peace with God through the grace of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes when I look at my life I need to hear Jesus words and remember to refocus on being a peacemaker.
I wonder if you would share your experince with making peace and the effects it had on your life (both practical and spiritual)?
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