Thinking about peace today, especially as my hero Peace Pilgrim preached it. In an interview on July 6, 1981 in Knox, Indiana, she was asked:
“Peace, the Bible tells us that wars will always be with us. What do you say to people who say that? Do you think that this one little effort can make a difference?
Peace’ response: “It actually says that there will be ‘wars and rumors of wars.’ But that prophecy as been fulfilled amply through the centuries. I don’t see why we should want any more fulfillment of that prophecy. It also says ‘they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not life up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.’ Perhaps the time has come for the fulfillment of that prophecy.
She went on to say, “I think this, of course, is what all of us desire. And yet, there is so much pessimism. I was talking to a lady who said, ‘I’m praying with your for peace but of course I don’t believe it’s possible.’ I said, ‘don’t you think peace is in accordance with God’s will?’ ‘Oh, yes,’ she said, ‘I know it is.’ I said, ‘Well how can you tell me that that which is in accordance with God’s will is not possible?’ It’s not only possible, it’s inevitable. Only how soon is up to us.
“Now I know that all good effort bears good fruit, and so I keep on making what good effort I can. I leave results in God’s hands. They may not be manifested in my lifetime but eventually they will be manifested.”
As we draw toward Christmas, we see the word “Peace” all over the place. I think it is time to mean what we say and believe in what is God’s will.