Being a Peacemaker

Thanks to Adam and Eve and their "fall", we are all hardwired with certain tendencies that aren't so pretty and sweet. One tendency is to get angry. But, thanks to Jesus and His sacrifice, He gave us a higher standard. He calls us to be peacemakers — not just peacekeepers. Peacekeepers usually avoid conflict, but peacemakers resolve conflict and reconcile relationships.

We need a world of peacemakers! And, that includes you and me. The Bible promises this: “Those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness” (James 3:18). We planted a lot of seed on our Oklahoma ranch. We had huge vegetable gardens and we found that planting a few seeds could yield a bumper crop. We also had an apple orchard that started from a few apple seeds. Those good seeds resulted in many apple trees and delicious apples that made the best pies and jams. It’s the law of sowing and reaping. The same is true in planting seeds of anger and hate or peace and love. If we plant seeds of hate, we’ll reap anger, bitterness and trouble. But the Bible says if we plant seeds of peace, we will reap a harvest of peace, kindness, and goodness in return.

One of the most important life skills we will ever learn is conflict resolution. Let’s consider a bitter argument between a husband and wife. Someone must make the first move toward peace. I remember sleeping on the far edge of our bed because I wasn't about to start the peace conversation. I waited for my husband to make the first move. These many years later, I found the better person is the one who takes the initiative to resolve conflict and make amends.

Jesus took the initiative to show mercy to us. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:8,10). Jesus didn’t wait for us to apologize. He didn’t even wait for us to feel bad about our behavior. Jesus made the first move. And he wants us to do the same thing. He wants us to call for Peace Summits – where the expected result is always peace!

I know this blog today comes from God's prompting to me. More than anything, He wants us to live in peace with each other. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) Being a peacemaker is one who doesn’t come forward with accusations and ways they've been hurt or speaking about whose fault it was. Peacemakers start with humility – “I apologize for anything I did or said that created this conflict. Will you please forgive me? Jesus made the first move -- shouldn't we?

Let's Be Kindness Junkies

A "junkie" is someone consumed by an addiction. What a difference it would make if we were all addicted to being kind -- just can't help ourselves. It's who we are and what we do. A few days ago I told the story of our helping a lady whose keys were locked in her car and her cell phone was dead. She was so relieved when we showed up to help her. But, what if we had parked in another location or what if we were so into ourselves in conversation that we didn’t even notice her?

I believe we are all God’s messengers on assignment when we leave our homes (or even in our homes when we sense a nudge to encourage a family member or call someone to encourage them). Most of the time, kindness always begins with our eyes — the way we observe the world and are sensitive to the needs of other people.

That's what I caught when reading about the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:33: “When HE SAW the man’s condition, his heart was filled with pity”. Notice that “he saw.” That's our starting point. If we want to learn to be a kinder person, our world view must change to being an observer of the needs around us. When we're in a hurry -- kindness opportunities evade us. If we're wanting to be a "kindness junkie", then we must slow down! Distractions are the death of kindness.

1 Corinthians 10:24 says “Look out for the good of others”. The first step to kindness is to ask God to give us a sensitive, spiritual radar to be on the lookout for people around us who are hurting emotionally, spiritually, and physically. To be on high alert for the opportunity to spread a little kindness with our words and our actions.

I'm determined to be a kindness junkie. I want to be aware of those who need kindness ministered to them. I want a bumper crop of kindness to harvest. It’s not always easy to see the needs of other people, especially when they’re on the other side of the road. But it’s the starting point of kindness. Maybe it’s time to slow down and even stop to smell the roses because the roses we smell, might be someone who needs Jesus in human flesh.

Pretty Flowers or Pesky Weeds?

Day 88 of Photo Inspirations -- Pretty Flowers or Pesky Weeds?
These lovely little violet flowers seem to be everywhere this year.  They look great as ground cover as we travel along streets and highways.  On the other hand, they are overtaking many lawns, and, in actuality -- they are weeds -- Henbit, to be exact.  They lay dormant all winter, then make their presence known in early Spring.
Many of my neighbors already have Spring fever -- that are eager to start getting their gardens all prepped for planting flowers, herbs and vegetables.  Great gardens don't grow naturally, but weeds do.  

Pulling weeds and planting seeds is the story of life.  We are either allowing weeds that need drastic measures to remove from our lives (anger, envy, jealousy, immorality, gossip, complaining, bitterness) and that rob us of energy and the nutrients necessary to grow and flourish the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, GENTLENESS and self-control).  
Pesky weeds squeeze the life out of fruit-producing seedlings.  And those pesky weeds have an inate ability to multiply. Remember when we were kids and we loved breaking off the stem of a dandelion that held a cluster of seeds?  A breeze or a puff of air would instantly launch a jillion of those tiny, angel-hair parachutes. But, soon we learned that those wind-born villains would cause dandelions everywhere.  And, that's the way it is with just one weed growing freely in our lives.  One weed can spread to be a full ground cover of weeds.

Don't you wish we had some high-powered super duper weed herbicide for ridding our yards of weeds -- but even more so....the ability to help us instantly eradicate weeds from our lives?  The reality is that all soil has weed seeds. Lives do too. What you and I need is a personal visit from the Master Gardener and His heavenly hoe.  Why don't we ask Him to visit our gardens today, and do some fresh cultivation of the soil in our hearts?  Once we do, we can count on a bumper crop of the Fruit of the Spirit that gives us the harvest we have been believing for.