I love peacemakers.
Especially now.
Sometimes I feel as though most current conversation is a battlefield, full of land mines. I’m an opinionated person. I find a few.
One of the things I’m working on right now is being a person who doesn’t engage in foolish conversations. I consider it a foolish conversation if I am talking to a close-minded individual or someone who is too angry to hear me. Constantly running into a wall, over and over, is foolish.
Those who know me personally know I have dear friends who are both loudly liberal and loudly conservative. Yep, I appreciate those who speak their mind – loudly. I like those who do it quietly, too, but they don’t get the same level of attention.
Sometimes I feel the need to share my opinion. I often regret it and wish I’d kept my commenting contained to subjects like the weather.
But there is a side of me that believes speaking up is not only important, but critical. I try to do it respectfully – often re-writing a statement over and over so it gets the point across or turning it over in my mind a few times before I speak it – it needs to be my truth but I also need to make sure it is loving and kind. I’m getting better at it, but I’m human.
Matthew 5:9 says “God blesses those people who make peace. They will be called his children!” (from my favorite Contemporary English version)
Those who are angry and investing in a battle? It doesn’t say they’re not God’s children, but I suspect God’s head is shaking at them in frustration. I doubt they’ll receive accolades for it.
It’s hard for most of us to be a peacemaker. First of all, it requires we get involved. If you say nothing, not much peacemaking is going on. It requires action.
Then it requires we turn our backs on the inflammatory and find a way to douse the flames. Sometimes it does require walking away if someone is in a certain state, because now is not the time they will listen to us.
My goal is to stoke my relationships, and get back to a place of equilibrium, then when the time is right to listen to them carefully and thoughtfully and earn the right to respond. Sometimes I find when they are not raging, they make sense. I might even change my mind. Other times they may listen to me and consider what I have to say. Sometimes we continue to disagree, but hopefully still respecting the other’s right to their own opinion and realizing their lens is different than ours.
Invest in those things you love. I’m investing in peacemaking.
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa
In the Box, Out of the Box 