What peace?

As we continue to walk through the Beatitudes, the next one is this “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. (Mt 5:9)

I will admit that today this is NOT the piece of scripture I want to focus on. Why do you ask? Because I’m in a bad mood. Two weeks ago I was sitting on the beach at South Padre, playing with my dog in the ocean. And today I’m watching the icicles fall off our RV. All I hear in my head is “come back to South Dakota, it will be fun” they said…..BIG FREAKING LIARS!!

Another thing that happened today is that Joan and I were walking our dogs this morning and when we get back to the RV we unhook our black lab to let him back into the RV. Just as I do, a friend drives up and Dexter goes to say hi. There is no problem with this they know each other and like one another. It’s all good…..right? Well not exactly. The guy in the little golf cart just happens to be going by and stops to say “hey, the dog has to be on a leash” Seriously, he’s off for 3 seconds to go back inside and this pin head’s only goal in life is to stop and make me think I just took a shot at the president or something. (I will admit that the thought of a gun may have flashed through my mind for a moment) not really but it did capture my thought process for quite a while. Why you may ask. Well, I’ll tell you why. I like to do things right. I really do like to follow the rules. In fact, it is a core value of mine (to have things in order) and I didn’t like the fact that this guy didn’t take any reasonable thought to what was going on in the situation. Not to mention we are on the edge of the RV park and the nearest RV is about 40 yards away with a foot of snow on the ground. My mind was racing to the idea that this is no big deal, back off. It’s not like we just let our dogs run unchecked!!! And besides, I’m a good guy!

Have you ever had a day like that? Is it possible that this is exactly why Jesus found it so important to make sure we know this? I think it is. In our culture of today this is more important than ever. It doesn’t matter if you are in Texas or South Dakota or anywhere in between, people are living on the edge. We are living on the edge of our finances, we live on the edge or our marriages, and we really live on the edge of our emotions some times. Don’t believe me, turn on the tv and watch the news sometime.

Our lives will be significantly better if we follow the principles that Jesus gave us in his Word and this is one of them, work for peace. He doesn’t say live a peaceful life or go in peace. He says “work” for peace. He’s telling me…I mean us, that we should keep our emotions in check and work for peace. I can easily think that this guy doesn’t know who I am or what I’m thinking and how dare he intrude upon my life. Or, I can take Jesus’ perspective and work for peace in my own emotions and actions. I don’t know this guy but I do know that Jesus created him and loves him and therefore I have to too. It’s always hard when we don’t want to but it is even more important to in these cases. Granted, not everyone will want to work for peace but that does not make it ok for me or you not work for it. I want to be a child of God and Jesus has given me the key to unlock my hard heart. “Work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” Besides, if you don’t work for peace who will?

I truly hope you have a peaceful day and a great weekend!!