"Let there be peace on earth"

We lit the second candle of Advent this weekend.  It is the PEACE candle. 

My typical modus operandi, a few days before lighting the candle of the week, is to let the word we are concentrating on ruminate. I look for songs, scriptures, and times in my life that include the word or bring it to mind.  And usually I end up singing the music (as I did last week with Dusty Springfield's "Wishin' and Hopin'").

So, as you might guess, this week I've been singing the oft-used, "Let there be peace on earth", written in 1955 by Jill Jackson Miller (1913-1995) and Sy Miller. (1908-1971).  I googled the song and found that Jill Jackson was a film star whose life had been one of struggles.  After her first marriage ended in divorce, she contemplated suicide. Fortunately, she experienced a spiritual awakening that she described as the tie that connected her to God's unconditional love and to the realization that she was on earth for a reason. She married Miller, and they co-wrote the song, which has now become almost a Christmas carol.  At least, we hear it often at Christmas.

"Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me".

Peace

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:7

This week I have also been thinking of some friends who are struggling to find peace: one had recently fallen in love and her beloved lost his life to cancer; another looked so forward to the birth of her first great grandchild, only to hear the sweet baby girl is in Heaven, rather than her granddaughter's arms, and still another is having such difficulty understnading why her children left her in a lovely nursing home.

And I, always the 'Mary Sunshine', can glibly say, "God has a plan." knowing full well the unrest that comes to a single mother at Christmas, the sadness when the love of your life dies a month before Christmas and the empty feeling in the halls of a "not so lovely" nursing home where an old friend is alone except for my occaisional visits.

Each week during Advent, my friend Joe and I read a Scripture verse and a prayer as we light an Advent Candle. This was our prayer for Advent Two.

"Heavenly Father, You are the God who gives peace. May your peace fill our hearts and our world. Help us to be peacemakers in our relationships and communities".  

Which made my mind go to:  Make me a channel of your peace (the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi) and especially these words:

Make me a channel of your peace; Where there's despair in life, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, only light And where there's sadness, ever joy.

So I have a plan of action. I'm praying for opportunities to offer peace to those who are seeking it (some might not even know the source of their unrest), hope to those who have seemed to have none left, and joy - That's next week's candle.

May you have enough sunshine in your life to help you appreciate the shadows