Beatitudes: Blessed are the Peacemakers

Dear Father, Dear Son, and Dear Holy Spirit. This need is so vital and the task so great we will need all three. We must have the wisdom of the Father, the love of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit on this one. We are pleading for some peacemakers. Our divisions are tearing us apart and frankly I have wracked my brain for weeks trying to find some peacemakers who are trying to help us heal and I can’t find any.

Granted we have had times of harsh divisions in the past. One such time lead to a civil war that killed an unbelievable number of our young men and caused one state to spend twenty percent of its budget on wooden legs. We have never really gotten over that war. We do not want to be divided like that ever again so we need some kind of divine intervention. We need peacemakers now.

A polarized world cannot make reasonable decisions. Compromise is seen as a defeat and every conclusion ends up being a victory for one side and a defeat for the other. There is no middle ground and no one to reason with both sides. We need someone to stand in the middle and build bridges of understanding between us.

I finally got down off of my soap box and stopped bothering God with my request and started trying to discover how I could become a peacemaker. I can’t change America but I can make a difference in my small world. Grass roots is the most effective way to bring real change. It won’t happen because congress passes a resolution or the President signs an executive order. It will only happen when we learn how to love those who disagree with how we think or feel.

I have given it some thought and so far have come up with what I think are the basic principles of peacemaking.

PEACEMAKERS LISTEN

First and by far the most important thing is I must listen and make an honest attempt to understand where folks are coming from and why they are there. I have a friend who believes every conspiracy theory that comes down the pike. I can argue with him until I run out of words, but if I want to be a peacemaker I must first listen to him and try to discover where all the fear, mistrust and anger comes from. I may not be able to get through to him but one thing I know for certain, He will not listen to me until he realizes I am making an honest effort to understand where he is and why he is there. Listen first and talk second must become my mantra. Until I listen I am just throwing words against a brick wall.

PEACEMAKERS DO NOT NEED ABSOLUTES

I need to understand that at best I only have the penultimate word. Penultimate means the next to the last word. I don’t have the last word politically, spiritually, or even Biblically no matter how many proof text I can quote. We cannot make peace while standing on our own absolutes. The healthiest words I can tell myself are, “This is only how I see it and I may be wrong”

PEACEMAKERS ARE NOT SILENT

Peacemaking sounds like I must be a coward who stands in silence while the world burns. Not at all. I must speak out, but I must learn to speak and stand on principles not on someone’s neck. Attacking people I disagree with, or calling them names only exacerbates the problem. An idea or a policy can be dangerous but that does not make the person presenting it an idiot, a socialist nor someone who wants to destroy our country. Fine line yes, but worth looking for.

PEACEMAKERS SEEK SOLUTIONS NOT BLAME

It seems like we have too many blamers and too few solvers. Too many folks think they have done something by just figuring out who or what to blame.

A good example of this is the current horror of school shootings. Some say it is guns, others say it is mental health issues, others say it is the schools are too vulnerable, or parental failure or the violence of computer games, or maybe just the hate let loose in our world and the arguments go on and on with nothing changing.

How about someone admitting that all of these have a part in the cause and then making it possible for us to put all of them on the table and work on the whole problem not just the one part we want to blame, or all of them except the one we don’t want to blame. Then and only then can we find solutions and peace.

Until we can lay aside our pet issues and our set in stone ideas and beliefs and start trying to understand one another there will be no solutions. Peace requires peacemakers.

Want to be called a child of God? That title is reserved for those who make peace.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

____________________

EIGHT ATTITUDES OF SOME SALTY CHRISTIANS

Attitude one: Keep an open mind.
Attitude two: Be open to the comfort of others
Attitude three: Trust the power of love
Attitude four: Know the goal and thirst for it
Attitude five: Dare to show mercy
Attitude six: Keep it simple
Attitude seven: Seek solutions not just blame