You don't play peace

I read on Linda's blog a beautiful story about peace. Children were playing war and their grandfather said that war brought a lot of pain and that they could better play peace. However, the children asked him a very good question: “How do you play peace, grandpa?”. A question to reflect on in this peace week, because grandpa also didn't know the answer.

It's clearly in our words: you start an argument, you wage a war. It's clear that a person therefore needs their creative capacities to create a war. But peace must be established. Establishing requires much more of our creative skills than quickly making something. Establishing means creating something lasting, something that can survive generations. A landmark that everyone can look up to.

And yet peace is so fragile. So difficult to create, so easy to break down. Is that the destructive nature of people? Is that why children intuitively know how to play war, but not how to play peace? Is peace duller than war?

These are all questions that seem evident, but the answers are not. If it were simple to have peace, our earth would currently not be messed up by all conflicts, far or near. Europe has known its wars and currently another one rages in the form of terrorism. And no one seems to have an answer for lasting peace.

I learned a lesson myself this week. My grandfather passed away. Amidst all the pain I felt from the loss (although I know I will see him again once we are all brought back to life or even earlier in the spirit world), I also had the task of guarding the peace between the clans in my family.

I'm not going into the details, as they interest me very little at this moment. I only wanted one thing: to say goodbye to my grandfather in peace and quiet with respect. That gave me the strength to be a go-between and, at best, to have a truce. I never even hoped to bring lasting peace. That is far beyond my capabilities.

But it has taught me to realize that making peace is an incredibly difficult task. In Matthew 5:9 we read:

Blessed  are the peacemakers, for they will be called God's ​children​ will be called.

and since this week I fully believe and understand this verse. People who succeed in that may truly be called children of God.

The most important lesson I have learned, however, is that making peace begins in your own heart. This verse is also about that. I used to be different: an an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, was more my motto. It is certainly my natural reflex. Sometimes still, I am far from perfect, I feel the urge not to resolve a dispute, whatever it may be, big or small. Usually, it's a matter of ego: I believe I am right and that I must achieve and get that right. The right of the strongest (in terms of character).

But happiness is more to be found in peace. Leave differences aside. Don't focus on what hurt you. That has happened, is in the past and therefore cannot be changed anymore. However, focus on the future. Do you want a future with more arguments and pain, or do you want a future where you can enjoy what you can mean to each other.

Since I realized that, I have had a strong urge to approach everyone I have ever hurt and apologize. I even lost a few good friends in the past because I didn't pay attention to what mattered to them. I wish I could make it all right.

That desire is a change of my heart. Although I am only beginning to see it this week and still have a long way to go, I notice that this is the influence of more than five years of desiring to be more like Christ and to live according to His teachings. Now I understand all the more what it means to put off the natural man and take upon oneself the name of Christ.

So the answers to my questions are contained in the gospel of Christ. Do not judge, turn the other cheek, love your enemies, ... It's all about having peace with God, yourself, and others. As Christ Himself taught us, it's all about this:

And you shall the Lord, your God, ​love​ with all your ​heart​ and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.

And the second,  to this like,  is this: You shall your neighbor ​love​ as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

Peace begins in your own heart. Only when peace reigns there can you radiate and share it. By doing that every day, you don't play peace: no, then you establish peace.