Seeds of peace

When times are difficult, and you have something you must do though you do not want to or even feel you can, there is help. Take a minute to sew some seeds.

The Bible tells us: "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. Then it gives peace. It is gentle and willing to obey. It is full of loving kindness and of doing good. It has no doubts and does not pretend to be something it is not. Those who plant seeds of peace will gather what is right and good."

When the talk about splitting a denomination comes around, it seems to me that seeds of peace need to be planted.

When the talk that could split a church comes around, you got it... seeds.

When the talk that could split a marriage... seeds.
Talk...split...seeds of peace.

Catch the formula here?

Seek the wisdom that comes from heaven ...
It gives peace.

Be gentle and willing to obey...
it gives peace.

Have no doubts ...
It gives peace.

Never pretend to be something we are not ...
peace.

Doing what is right and good...
No matter how hard that is, no matter the consequences, the sum total of all this is it gives peace.

There's a story, by Georgianna Moore, that needs sharing.

"Once upon a time the earth was even more beautiful than it is today. The water was pure and deep, reflecting within itself the sunlight which gave life to all the creatures beneath the waves.

The earth was green with many kinds of trees and plants. These gave food and shelter to the birds, the animals, and to all mankind. At night the air was so clear that the starlight gave a glow almost as bright as the moon.

The people of the earth lived close to nature. They understood it and honored it and never took more than what they needed from it. The people lived in peace so they prospered and began to build many nations all around the world according to nature's climate.

But one day, a terrible thing happened. A strange spirit of greed entered the hearts of mankind. People began to be jealous of one another, and they were not satisfied will all the good things they already had. The nations wanted more and more of everything: more land, more water, more resources. They squeezed precious minerals from the earth to build terrible weapons to defend their nations from other greedier nations. They killed one another. They polluted the air and the water with poisons. Nature began to die. This is called war. War is ugly. It destroys love and hope and peace.
Then one day a magical thing occurred. The birds of the air, the animals of the land, and the creatures beneath the waters came to an agreement: if they were to survive, something would have to be done to stop these wars. Only through peace could their world survive.

We cannot speak the human language, they declared, and mankind can no longer understand ours. We must find among us a symbol of peace so brilliant that all who see it will stop and remember that peace and sharing are beautiful.

I am what you need, said a golden sunflower. I am tall and 
bright. My leaves are food for the animals, my yellow petals can turn 
plain cloth to gold, my seeds are many and are used for food by all living 
beings. Yet, the seeds I drop upon the ground can take root and I will 
grow again and again. I can be your symbol of peace.

All nature rejoiced, and it was decided that the birds would each take one sunflower seed and that they would fly over every nation and plant the seed in the earth as a gift. The seeds took root and grew, and the sunflowers multiplied.

Wherever the sunflowers grew, there seemed to be a special golden glow in the air. The people could not ignore such a magical sight.

Soon they began to understand the message of the sunflowers so they decided to destroy all of their terrible weapons and to put an end to the greed and to the fear of war. They chose the sunflower as a symbol of peace and new life for all the world to recognize and understand."

Seeds of peace, folks, are planted when we take the worst we face and turn it with God's great help into the best. It can, and will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.