Sunday Afternoon Tea

My ponderings this week have been much about peace... how there can be peace in my heart when not in the world around me.  How I can bring peace to the world in the way I treat others.

Of course, there has been much talk about 9/11 this week, as the national news are presenting their various memorials.  I remember that day in Technicolor and feel the fear in my heart as my husband was in the air on that day (and would have been over Pennsylvania about the time the plane went down).

Thankfully, we were to find out later in the day that he was fine... just trying to get out of Chicago and home to where we were living in a Detroit suburb.

There has also been much talk about a pastor who wants to instigate trouble by burning the holy book of another faith.  Now, you who have read my ponderings long enough would also know it is obvious I do not follow any faith other than the one founded on the Resurrection of Yeshua.

I also know that the planes were not taken over by Southern Baptists on 9/11.  However... this is not the way to bring those with different beliefs into the Kingdom of our Lord.  I know from my own life that love goes a lot farther than hate and we cannot forget that we are to "Do unto others as we would want others to do unto us".

There is a time and a place for battle, yes.  A time to live and a time to die.  But among all... a time to show love to those whom God has placed in our path.

Living in a University town, I often find myself in line at the grocery with lovely young women whose clothing tells me their faith is different than mine.  I am used to a variety of people and beliefs.  One of my dearest friends is Jewish... and very liberal in her politics.  (We had coffee recently and shared our concerns about the Holy Land and she laughed when I told her I now know how she felt when Bush was president.)

Her sons were best friends with my son before college took them in different directions... and another of his best friends is a Hindu.  I don't whip out The Four Spiritual Laws when we get together but they all know our family's faith is deeply entrenched in the New Testament... that the Messiah has already visited this planet and will come again.

We may not be able to bring peace to the world (which will know no peace until the return of the Peace Giver), but we can create peace in our homes and while waiting in line at the grocery... or at Wal Mart when the Chinese student is having trouble finding the baking aisle.

Stories abound about world leaders who came to hate America and Americans when they were attending our Universities, only because of the way they were treated.

There is a reason I don't watch the national news much, anymore (the local news is about all I can take and remain sane).  Now, I know there are those who need to know what is going on in the World to be able to do that which God has set before them.  I, however, am not in that phase of life, anymore.  (I pray a lot for those in leadership.)

So when I sit down to rest for awhile in the front of the television... more than likely it is on the new Cooking Channel (with vintage Julia and the original Tyler shows that took him to chef's and grandmother's kitchens around the world).

Being a woman who finds peace in the kitchen browning the beef for the stew, assembling tomato sauce for the pasta, or turning on the Kitchen Aid to mix together a celebration cake... learning more about cooking and baking brings peace.  Losing myself in the midst of a beautiful novel brings peace.  Opening the Word and letting it sink in brings peace.  Listening to beautiful music brings peace.

If I do not take the time to be at peace... to do what is necessary to walk with calm... then when the winds of adversity blow hard, I become one who needs help instead of reaching out to friends and family with a calm spirit.

I've written a lot about creating a peaceful environment in our homes but one can burn scented candles and display beautiful vintage decorations and have bookshelves filled with good books and have family come home to the aroma of home baked bread... but if we have no peace within... there is no peace in the Home.

May I always be a reflection of His Peace to the World and to my family.  Acting in love to another never makes their beliefs or behaviors correct.  It opens the door to introducing them... perhaps someday and somehow... to the Prince of Peace.