Praying for Peace

 December 1, 2016

Advent – Season of Hope

Their two preschoolers were sound asleep in the back as they drove home after a long day at grandma and grandpa’s.  It was a welcome relief from the bickering, poking, pinching and whining that usually accompanies such trips.

“Mom, he’s looking at me!”

“Dad, he’s touching me!”

He gazes through the window, past the glare of artificial lights and tries to see the stars.  Only the light of the moon shines through.

He wonders about his younger brother, in the military in the Middle East–Jesus’ land yet full of fighting, blood feuds, family feuds, stemming back for centuries.  If only they would just stop, learn to live together, Israeli and Palestinian, Shia and Sunni.  So much like children, picking, poking, fighting, jostling for position, but with guns, knives and bombs.

Was his brother looking at the same stars, too, the same moon, the same sun.  He prays that he come home safely, that someday there would be peace.

They pull into the driveway, each take a child and quietly carry them up to their beds where they slept in innocent peace.

They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.    Isaiah 2:4

This is part of a  series of reflections on the seasons of the church year. To receive daily posts through email, click on button below.