be peace

As I was walking back to my car earlier today, it occurred to me that I am witnessing for peace any time I drive somewhere. I’m sure I annoy some people with my many peace-nik bumper stickers, but at least the thought of peace is put in front of them.

I think my most in-your-face bumper sticker is a quote from Molly Ivins: “It’s hard to convince people you are killing them for their own good.”

Keep Us From Pettiness

Keep us, O [God], from pettiness; let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with faultfinding and leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretenses and meet each other, face to face, without self-pity and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgment and always generous.
Let us take time for all things; make us to grow calm, serene, gentle.
Teach us to put in action our better impulses—straightforward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize it is the little things of life that create difficulties; that in the big things of life we are as one.
Oh, [Lord], let us not forget to be kind.
Amen.

- Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots

my mom recently turned me on to this song, and now we sing it often on Sundays before Meeting for Worship:

(to the tune of Finlandia, by Sibelius)

This is my song, Oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

today i choose peace

i want to allow myself to BE- and be peace. it’s hard for me- i’m so used to chaos and self-destructive actions. step by step i give myself permission to go beyond grasping, attachment, and my mind to a place of just existing