The Time of Peace

This post was too good to pass up... sometimes I bring myself to tears...

Hi Su,

Thank you for your kind words.  Our 20th and 21st centuries (so far), with the exception of our Ted Roosevelt, are so obsessed with peace, and for good reason.  It seems, however, that so many think of peace as the absence of armed conflict.  What exactly is peace?  Is it not that inner rest that transcends our situation?  Nelson Mandela did not let his wrongful imprisonment rob him of his peace.  His purpose was set and his path was clear, he chose to not let his environment rob him of his peace.  Similarly, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of my American heroes because of his approach to solving the problem of racism.  He was determined while at the same time at a state of peace.  This is further evident in his method which garnered much more support than the use of violence.  In my own life, my time in the combat zone came with excessive stress due to the nature of my job.  Any time we came under fire however, I found myself at perfect peace.  For me it was a matter of knowing my end, of knowing that someday will be my last day on this earth and I know where I will be the day after that.  I did not know if my last day would be in Afghanistan, but I do know Him who gives peace with God and that meant that whenever my last day arrived, I would be ready.  It is actually a great relief of a great burden that many of us bear without sometimes even realizing it until we can lay it down.  I don’t mean to veer off topic except, I am convinced that this has more to do with the matter at hand than any other conversation.  The previous literary periods we witness society casting God aside and then we see society searching for what He provides everywhere else.  This unrest… whence does it come?  Shall we ever consider these heavier matters or will we ever scour the outer rim in search of what we can only find in the core?