A Prayer for Peace

It is snowing outside. Big fluffy flakes of white drifting down from on high. The fir tree outside my window is dusted in white, a downy pristine blanket embraces the earth. Beauty abounds in the quiet of snow falling.

In the peaceful silence the world rests. Beneath the snow, the earth slumbers, memories of spring’s glory to come sleeping beneath winter’s chill.

And I wait.

On this second Sunday of Advent, I meditate on Peace. Peace be with you. Peace be within me. Let peace become our world.

I bring in the newspaper and read of killings and war and bombs exploding and I despair. When will peace come?

And I remember.

Peace cannot come until we create it. Just as war cannot end until we put down the guns and end it. And abuse and homelessness and addictions and cruelty. None of these can end until we, the people who created them, choose to let go of what ails us and embrace what creates more of what we want in our lives and in our world.

When asked at Choices, “What do you want more of in your life?” my response was immediate. I know what I want. Peace.

Peace of mind. Peace within my heart. Peace within my soul. Peace in the world around me.

Let there be peace.

Let me be a vessel of Your Peace.

Let me become the Peace I wish to create in my world.

As I meditated this morning on the meaning of Peace and Advent’s reminder to all of us to embrace Hope. Peace. Love. and Joy. a prayer wrote itself on my heart. I shared a recording of it on my blog, Recover Your Joy, and share with you the words to my Advent Prayer:

Let Peace Become Us.

He is coming, they sing. His birth heralded around the world by shepherds watching and three Kings drawing near. Angels we have heard on high.

He is coming.

And the world waits. It waits for a child to be born of Mary. A child for whom good tidings will ring across the land. Hail Mary full of grace. Your time draws near.

Draw near. Draw nearer my heart and let its beat call you into this song of hope. Sing loud this song of peace for all mankind.

Sing loud. Rejoice. Rejoice O Israel. To thee shall come Emmanuel.

Come. Come into my heart and let joy to the world resound with every breath. Let joy become me.

Joy to the world. He is coming.

Let us rejoice.

Believer or non-believer, Christian, Buddhist, Jew or Muslim. No matter our faith, let us rejoice in this prayer for hope, peace, love and joy in our world.

Let peace become us.

Let there be peace among us.

Let there be peace.

May Peace be with You.