When Peace Calls For Change

 True peace sometimes requires disruptive change. Although we often think of peace in terms of maintaining the status quo:  "keeping the peace", or not "ruffling feathers", I don't believe that we should ever remain complacent in the face of injustice. If Martin Luther King Jr. had "kept the peace" and remained complacent towards the unjust laws that prevailed at the time, or if Rosa Parks had been obedient and given up her seat on the bus just because of the color of her skin in order to avoid conflict, necessary changes may not have come about.

  Today, as we honor Martin Luther King Jr., I would like to take a few moments to reflect on the values he embraced and lived out through powerful acts of non-violent, peaceful protest. He knew that there cannot be true peace as long as all men and women are not treated equally, with dignity and respect. In a speech delivered in Montgomery, Alabama on March 25, 1965, he said: "We must come to see that at the end we seek a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience." He recognized that he was not living in peaceful times, but that the ideals of peace, love and respect for all must be held in one’s heart and be the catalyst for the change that will bring us closer to this vision of society.

      

This morning, please pray that each one of us would hold these ideals in our heart and do whatever is in our power to bring our world into alignment with them...changing what needs to be changed, keeping the vision of Martin Luther King alive in a still imperfect world.

 “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” –
MLK, August 19,1967

Winter Hope

 As I look out the window and see gray, cold and snow once more. I am trying not to be too discouraged. but it's a challenge. 

Winter is long and hard and sometimes life's circumstances can be difficult; they may even seem overwhelming.  Some days, it's easy to feel discouraged and just want to crawl back in bed.  But on these days, I remind myself that I am strong when I am weak. When I allow myself to be weak and vulnerable, to let down my guard and trust fully in the Source of all Being, his/her strength flows through me, limited only by my own lack of emptiness.

Let me explain:

To the degree that I am "full of myself" and consumed by my own problems, God's presence will not be fully known.  In Alcoholics Anonymous, people can only begin to recover when they admit their powerlessness over the addiction and are willing to trust in a Higher Power for strength to overcome what has control over their lives. 

The principles of AA can apply to most of life's most difficult and challenging circumstances.  When I am willing to surrender my fears, my doubts, my constant trying to be whatever other people expect of me, and just ask for help from a Strength that finds nothing impossible, I begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

It is difficult, I admit, to empty me of me.  There is so much going on in my brain and body that keeps me constantly trying to do everything, solve every problem, be everything to everyone, that emptying of self is a real challenge. 

But I can start with today, this moment, breathing and releasing; trusting in my Source to provide all that I need to go forward courageously in spite of my fear.  There is an often repeated quote that has been attributed to many people; the first I believe was Mark Twain:  "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to go on in spite of it".

I ask for help, take a step forward and act courageously, because I know that God will strengthen me.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for your God will be with you wherever you go.”   Joshua 1:9