Peace on Earth

Dec 26, 2005

Well, I do hope you had a very Merry Christmas and can now bring yourself to the computer to
read this blog. My Christmas was okay, if you consider a houseful of people-about ten in all, including grand-children ranging in ages from seven to eighteen months. But I loved it, although now I’m dog tired. But now that Christmas is over we can reflect on the blessings, disappointments, joys, sorrows of 2005.

Uppermost in most people’s minds I’m sure would be the battering of storms we had this year. For us in Florida it seemed like there was hardly a let up once the season got underway. And for the people of New Orleans, not used to the unusual temperaments of Mother Nature, this year must have been a real shocker. London and Spain had their share of terrorist bombings, and Israelis saw themselves giving up their much cherished land for the sake of peace.

However, peace, in Israel and elsewhere, remains an elusive dream. I asked some of my patients-about fifteen of them- to arrange a list of goals, including world peace, on a scale of 1-10. Amazingly, not one of them assigned peace to the top five. When I asked them why, they all said it’s not attainable.

Their response filled me with sadness. To think that we have grown so cynical that we no longer expect to live in a peaceful world. But this is what makes Christmas so special, so unique. Because it celebrates the birth of One who came to the world that we might have peace. When the angels announced Jesus’ birth they said, "Peace on earth to men of goodwill", and just before He left this earth He said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you ..." (John 14:27).

However as I write this men are fighting in Iraq and other parts of the world. Peace on earth? What peace, you ask. It’s the peace that fills your hearts and minds when you embrace Jesus as your Lord and Savior. When you do that, it doesn’t matter whether shells are falling all around you, you will be like the little bird I saw in a picture, sound asleep on the tip of a branch in the midst of a raging storm! That is the peace that passes all understanding.