Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. I am a peacemaker. I always have been, I think. Perhaps it is a middle child thing, perhaps it is somehow a product of my upbringing. Nurture and nature is what I suspect. So I have spent much of my life trying to bring peace, understanding, harmony to places and people where those things are in short supply or missing altogether. As I think back over my life I can see places where I’ve extended myself, sometimes putting myself out on a limb for the sake of creating a meaningful, peaceful connection between people.
One of the big challenges in my life has been to develop the ability to allow things to be unharmonious and out of sync. I am not a big fan of disequilibrium: I’m not much of a fan of “dis” anything (or “dys” for that matter.) So there are times to work hard on bringing peace and there are other times to step back and let things kind of roil around until equilibrium, equanimity, peace happens spontaneously. My mind just digressed briefly into decades old chemistry lessons about osmosis, equilibrium and other physical concepts that neatly describe the emotional/mental concepts that I’m writing about this evening.
And so I find myself contemplating wading into a bit of unsettledness in which some form of peacemaking or bridge building might be required. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, I remind myself as I contemplate not whether or not I will take action on a particular matter but when. The response, I think, is soon. But, that is not this day. I am writing late this evening after what has been a long and tiring day. Tomorrow is likely to be another such day and I confess I am not looking forward to that. But I’ve already determined that I will speak in positive and upbeat terms to myself throughout the day, from the time the radio comes on at 5:15, to my rising at 5:30 and right on through to the time my head hits the pillow tomorrow night sometime after 11:00.
I am grateful for continuing awareness and acceptance of the various roles I play in the world around me: in my family, at work, with my children, etc. I accept and embrace being a peacemaker, a trailblazer, a wayfinder, and so many other interesting, unique, even quirky roles I play in various areas of my life. They are woven into the fabric of my life, the fibers of my being and that’s a good thing. I look forward to seeing how my peacemaking skills fare when I put them to the test in the next week or so. I hope when I wade in that afterward I shall be called a child of god. One can hope.
