Peace is where you make it

Many of us struggle to find peace in our homes and in our work. Peace-making isn’t just difficult, it sometimes seems downright impossible.

We are called to make peace even when what really makes sense is throwing in the towel. We are called to rock the boat for justice, to demand more than what the world will give us. We are called to work for the kingdom, to make a place for the kingdom and to notice where the kingdom has already become a part of our reality.

Peacemaking is not left to the people we call activists. Jesus directs these words to all. But how do we do it? There are no easy answers, only the choice to try. We can choose peace instead of violence. We can choose justice instead of injustice. We can, even in the smallest of ways, try to make a place for the kingdom of God to be birthed in our midst. And we can keep going back to the drawing board, keep refusing to settle, keep hearing the words of Jesus and keep trying to live into them.

This message is adapted from “Faith Reflections: Peace is where you make it” written by Brooke Petersen that first appeared in the October 2008 issue of Café magazine.