Easy Does It part 2
I know I claim almost all Bible verses as my favorites, but this is one of my favorites: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9). Now for a lot of my childhood I was the middle child. Then my mom had the second set of kids and I became one of the older boys. But I always kind of had that middle child mentality. Being in the middle, but keeping my head down so as to get through unscathed. Trying to keep the peace. Trying to keep things on an even keel. Don't rock the boat, that was my philosophy. But here's the deal--and I say this all the time--you can't give what you don't have. You must be at peace in order to make peace. And that peace, well, let me give you another memory verse. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). We DO have peace. And not just any peace. The peace of God. The peace of love. I think most people kind of define "peace" as the absence of enemies. And that might be as the world giveth. But I don't think we trust that at all. When things are going ok, its like we're always waiting for the other shoe to drop. God's peace doesn't have another shoe. There is nothing hanging over our heads. Its love. Love is what gives us peace, and love is how we make peace. I'm always Ranting about keeping and guarding our hearts. This goes with that. Don't let it be troubled. Don't be afraid. Let the perfect love of God cast out that fear. So that we can love fearlessly. So that we can live fearlessly! I'm telling you, the fire in you (the LOVE in you) is always hotter than the fire you're in. And even if things are burning, we can walk through the fire like those three Hebrew boys who came out of the fiery furnace smelling like roses! Only their bonds were burned off. Because LOVE is the consuming fire. Love does what nothing else can. It gives us that peaceful, easy feeling. Love is our blessed assurance that no matter what happens... we'll be ok. We'll get through it. We'll be able to learn and grow. Its a journey. A marathon, not a sprint. A never-ending life-long journey into the heart of the matter. Which is love. God's heart is the heart of the matter. God's heart beating with love in our chests. That's how we are called (or identified as) the Son(s) of God. We make peace, by giving people the peace that Jesus has given to us. That unshakeable Rock that we can stand on no matter how much shaking is going on. Receiving and releasing, right? He IS our peace. LOVE is our peace. And while you can't give what you don't have, you can only give what you do have. So strive to make peace. As my hippie of a mother says, "Make love, not war." We don't need to force people to think like we do, or act like we do, or believe like we do. We can just love them no matter what. We can live and let live. We can be peacemakers. Support people. Edify people. And, most of all, love people!