December 7, 2021
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Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11
Peace. What a word.
We are living in a world where it seems we are always at odds; we are in conflict constantly. We are in conflict with our unvaccinated neighbor or our vaccinated neighbour, we are in conflict with our BIPOC brothers and sisters, we are in conflict with nature, and we are in conflict with our teachers, our medical staff, our children, our parents, our politicians, our ministers, and our church and so on. We are at odds, in conflict with everyone. Peace in these ages seems as a dream.
I sometimes wonder if peace is even reachable in this new frontier where we seem to be so against everyone and everything. Mistakes are bared and made public, our opinions judged and weighed, every failure or misguided attempt at something is front and center, ready to be scrutinized. All you have to do is tune into some small bit of news, and any feeling of community is drowned because of the negativity and harshness in the world. In our efforts to create oneness, we seem to be dividing our factions more and more.
Amidst all of the chaos and hopelessness, do we dare think of peace? Do we dare broach the concepts of a peaceful existence with our neighbours? But perhaps that is part of the issue. We are depending on others to make that first step to that peace. We forget that we are all fighting the same battle outside and inside… am I good enough, will my child be brave enough, are my folks going to be ok, is my family going to survive, is Canada going to survive, who is better, who is stronger, who has been wronged etc.? It goes and on. We are so full that sometimes it seems our minds might burst from these negative thoughts.
Sometimes though, we stop. We just stop…and something happens.
An unexpected quiet in the middle of chaos appears. It could be a thought, a breeze, a child’s laugh, a bird call, song on the radio, some kind of a quiet moment. And we know. We know that God is there. Sometimes you may have to work hard to quiet your mind, but when you find that quiet moment, you know in that instance, that no matter what we do, what we say or what is going on in this tumultuous world, we know God is there. We find that instance of living peace within our own heart and souls.
That is the moment to remember and to share with our neighbours. That is the moment to look for when everything gets us down and under; when we see no place to turn or to go, we have this moment of peace. That moment of quiet is what we must strive to uphold and cherish. That is the moment we can and should share and talk about. Everyone talks of the conflict, how many people talk about the beauty and those wonderful moments of clarity in the purpose of God’s creations.
This is when I reflect on Gandhi’s words - “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” There will always be wars and rumors of war; both literal wars and wars within ourselves. There is not a lot we can do about that as an individual, but if we individually take some time to find or strive to find that little bit of peace within ourselves, maybe through sharing our peace, we can inspire someone else to find that same peace. As we share our stories of the beautiful forest, the wonderful sunrise, the amazing shaft of light through our window, the laughter of our family, we are sharing the peace that God intended for us to pass on.
Prayer: God, give us the strength and the courage to be the change we wish to see in the world and to share your peace with others.
Davina Melanson has been a member of Port Williams United Baptist church since 2008. Her family moved to the Port to be closer to her parents and her sister’s family. She and her family have been active in many aspects of church and community and enjoy the wonderful sense of kinship on this area.