the dove of peace

Is it really possible? Is it that simple to have peace in your life, to have love in your life in three easy steps? Well, not really, however what can help you through your daily grind is to accept kindness, share your life with others and to accept peace in your life. I mean, there are other things you can do to live a joyous life, but I will focus on these three things for now. You might be wondering, “Okay, to have peace you must accept peace, what gives?” and the answer is yes, that is right. We are bombarded by the struggle to get through our fast days, the daily grind, and all the troubles of the world that seem to sit right on top of our shoulders. To have peace requires the action of allowing it into your life. For example, you can listen to soft music when you come home from work, read a good book on the weekend or have a cup of hot tea in the morning only if you do it and take time to do it. In order to have a good measure of peace in your life, it means you should be being open to the “feeling” of peace and then giving that “feeling” some room in your busy schedule.

Ecclesiastes 3:8 says, “…there is a time for peace” while Psalm 34:14 says, “…seek peace”

You need to go after peace just as you would any other goal in life. You need to make time for peace and seek it, as much as we do attempting to climb the corporate ladder.

John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” while John 16:33 say’s, “that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

So by these writings, it is clear we need to accept peace and if it is given and wholesome, then we need to accept it in our lives to have it. If someone offers you something out of kindness and it is wholesome, accept it in joy and they too will be joyful. We can see this in James 1:17 where St. James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, whom there is no variations or shadow of turning.” In other words, every good gift and every perfect gift will be just that good and wholesome and from God for you to accept in your life and in your heart.

Furthermore, we see in Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.”

God gives peace and so we should accept it. If someone gives to us out of kindness, and it is wholesome, out of joy and love, then we should accept it as it is from above, as a good and perfect gift.

However, we should not only accept good gifts from others, but share with others as well. In Matthew 5:43 we see St. Matthew write, “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” and in Acts 3:6, St. Peter writes, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” and then also in his letter to the Ephesians 4:28, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”

The gift St. Peter gave to a lame man, attributable to the power of the Holy Spirit, who was lying at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, was the ability to walk, a miraculous healing.

If we work to do what is good and give to others out of what we have, then we have sought out the Holy Spirit’s fruit of kindness and goodness, given to others as a gift, because again wholesome gifts are from God.

Which brings me to the litmus test question, “How do you know the gift you are giving or taking is wholesome?” You know if the gift you are given is wholesome if the gift produces peace in your life, because God gives peace. If the gift is from your honest labor as St. Matthew writes in Ephesians 4:28 and not from ill-gotten gains, then it will be good. In Galatians 5:22 we see good fruit products positive benefits in your life, you will know if the fruit you are given is bad if it produces the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit in your life. You will also know if the fruit you give others, the gifts you give others are bad if they produce turmoil in their life.

These good gifts to give and to receive do not have to be big either. I was at a shopping center where you buy the bags to bag your own groceries, that way the costs of the food are kept low. At checkout, I picked up two bags, but for some reason only had the change for one. I was a penny short. I told the cashier, I would go to the car to get some more change. She looked at me and said, “That’s okay.” Well, the simple giving of a penny allowed me to have the second bag. I packed up my food and dropped the two bags of food I purchased into the back of my car. Now it may seem to you that it was just a penny, but to me, it made the difference between stuffing everything into one bag! So, I took the quarter I got back for locking the cart up with the others, went into the store and gave the cashier it, telling her thanks. In this way, if someone else needed a bag, they too could get one if they are short on change.

Did the penny make a difference to me, YES! Will the quarter make a difference to someone else, YES! Was it wholesome, YES! Did it make my day, YES! -both the giving and the getting did.

One final note: I wrote this blog article in part because a dear friend of mine passed-away two weeks ago. I will call him by his nickname, T-Bone. He was a blessing to me because of the way he lived his life. He lived his life with peace, not that he ever had any troubles of his own, but he always had a smile for you or a kind word. He was a man full of faith and took life one day at a time. He was an inspiration to me; by the way he always had time for you no matter how much he was going through himself. He was one of my very best and closest friends, and he will surely be missed by me. I wish his family all the blessing in the world. T-Bone you will always be missed and will always be remembered.

Accept peace, if you find someone who lives is well, seek them out, and learn from them how it’s done. I did, but yet I still have so far to go…

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