It’s no surprise that most of the people working to create peace on the ground are women. In some ways, we are ideally suited for peacemaking. We care. We listen. We’re practical. We know how to compromise and apologize. All these qualities help us prevent conflict or take the steps necessary to move from conflict toward reconciliation.
Peacemaking is grassroots work. Remember the old refrain, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me”? One way we can help create a culture of peace and nonviolence is by supporting our peacemaking sisters like Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women’s peace movement that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. By lifting up their efforts in our prayers, we can strengthen one another for mutual ministry.
This message is adapted from “Praying for Our Peacemakers: Sisters Fighting Violence” written by Anne Basye in the July/August 2005 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.