Paths and Whispers | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Paths and Whispers | Previous Challenge Entry
By Tracy Nunes
07/14/11
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The path to peace; littered with the bombs of war. The cry for war; disrupted by the whispers of peace. The two, intrinsically linked and diametrically opposed. Private peace, often viewed through the lens of personhood, yet seldom offering anything more than a call for sacrifice on the part of others in deference to one's own cocoon of tranquility, when reality is: we are responsible for our own harmony. We are endowed by our Creator with the ability to choose anger over love or love over anger.

World peace, often seen in abstract and political calculations: countries, kings and dominions; what they ought to do, what they did wrong, why it's all a mess. The great "They" being cited and charged when it's the little "I" that establishes the foundation for government, either just or unjust. How the man and woman go, so goes the family, the community, the government and thus, the world.

Personal responsibility forgotten; replaced by personal and widespread discontent. It's about me: what I want, what I crave, what I won't do without. Discontent creates fertile ground for hatred; hatred plants seeds for war. We covet what we don't have; we grieve the loss of what our own actions have thrown away.

We carry signs protesting aggression, pass around petitions, religiously listen to talking heads claiming to be experts but treat our own families with contempt and disregard unknowingly, or perhaps not so innocently, breeding the very aggression we purport to despise.

Even in the womb a child who cannot save its own life stands in the middle of the battle, the line in the uterus drawn. Will peace or war prevail? Will the innocent be saved or sacrificed for the personal peace of another? One's own cocoon of supposed tranquility bought with the price of another's war.

We cry for peace and safety; we say we desire it. But, we would sell our tomorrows for today's comfort and ease . We chase dreams of prosperity and personal satisfaction and turn from the true path to peace - Jesus - the only One who can give our souls rest, the only One who can deliver the peace that He promises.

We run and fight and struggle and defend and He stands at the door calling us to Eden. We perch at the edge of Paradise, peering in with longing, yet extend our hand backwards, stroking the serpent.

The path to peace is indeed littered with the bombs of war. The cry for war can indeed be disrupted by the whispers of peace. Can you hear it?

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