Blessed are the Peace Makers

I just did something I hate to do. I phoned a friend to confront a relational issue. It’s been nearly a month since an incident happened and I’ve been too scared to bring it up. It really needed to be discussed and was in relation to children’s behaviour. Something had happened in our home and while I dealt with it in a small way while the child was here, I needed the mother to know so she could take it up with her child. I had made it to be such a big deal in my mind and yet, my friend’s response was so reasonable and level headed, I don’t know quite what I was worried about.

To my shame, what prompted me to finally deal with it is that I am seeing her on Friday and I knew I couldn’t possibly see her face to face with any integrity if I hadn’t raised the issue. Talk about leaving things to the last minute. The silly thing is, it would have been so much less a big deal if I’d done it on the day it happened. Why do I find it so hard to bring things up?

You can’t move forward in a relationship if there not unity, or true peace.
What in the beginning was an issue I had to forgive, ended up being an issue where I also needed to ask forgiveness for holding out on her for so long.

I’ve asked myself why I was scared to bring it up and much of it was fear of misunderstanding. I was worried she’d think I thought less of her, or that I stood in judgement of her. I was scared she’d think I thought I was superior to her or that my children would never do a thing like that. I was more concerned about her misjudging me, than I was about the fact that in the first place, we were the ones that were ‘wronged’.

It’s the same for me if I’m bumped into by someone while in a crowd. Countless times, someone bumps me thoughtlessly, and I say sorry. If I buy a faulty item I rarely take it back. I had a really bad haircut and did nothing about it. What’s with that? Why do I find it so hard to allow someone know that they have wronged me? I want to keep the peace. Never want to make a fuss. Don’t make a scene. Leave it alone. It’s not a big deal. Don’t say anything. Don’t upset the apple cart. Don’t rock the boat.

And it’s not as noble as it sounds, to let these little offences go, to ‘turn the other cheek’. Because I’m not really meekly turning the other cheek and offering gracious forgiveness. Even though I don’t say anything, I am actually offended. What is worse, I pretend I’m not. Pretense is the real meaning of hypocrisy. It’s a mask.

I am by nature a peace keeper. However, what is better, is a peace maker. Today I finally made peace in the situation. While I was busy being a peace keeper, all I was doing was sweeping the dust under the carpet and I was left knowing there was something amiss. There could never have been any integrity in our friendship if I’d carried on just keeping the ‘peace’. It would have eroded any true relationship until it just went stale and old and redundant. She might never have known why we’d ‘grown apart’ and I’d always have some regret or resentment.

Being a peace maker is actually bringing proper reconciliation. Forgiveness, restitution, and restoration. The wrong righted. Jesus is the ultimate peace Maker. Maybe that’s why it says:

“Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

God Defend Our Free Land

I have been becoming increasingly concerned with the state of affairs in our nation. After reading and about the Sex Education for Kindergarten Children in Germany (which lead me to this post worth a click too) and also the fact that it has outlawed homeschooling, I began to consider what things would be like in New Zealand if home schooling were illegal. Apart from the state already meddling in family life with the passing (despite clear opposition from the majority of Kiwi’s) of the ‘anti-smacking‘ bill, it would be a further step in the direction of state control. Maybe for now the impact on our children wouldn’t be that great (relatively speaking). But the inevitable result wouldn’t be very different from what is happening in Germany. Why do I think this? Because of similarities it seems in the philosophies of the respective governments. I thought it interesting to note the extreme state interference in the lives of it’s citizens, and it echoes of a tragic past in that nation. Does history have to repeat itself?

Shocked as I was to read about the depravity of the German educational brochures, it served to remind me that moral decline isn’t just a bit of liberal teaching here and there, or ‘innocent’ or ‘pragmatic’ movement away from the absolutes of God’s law. Once begun, it seems that the progression of evil is truly horrific and it’s a slippery slope for a nation to begin on that course of rejecting God and His Ways.

How I love our National Anthem and I’m sure I speak for the majority of New Zealander’s when I say “God defend our Free Land”!

“..if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

Things they Say #2

Driving along today and E starts a conversation about lightening.

E: “I didn’t know God made lightening”.

Me: “Yep he did. He made light. The Bible says in heaven where God is, there is lots of light all around Him.”

E: “Yeah, and you’d need a hat but God doesn’t need a hat because it comes from Him and He made it”