When I was 5, I wanted to be a peacemaker!

Daily writing promptWhen you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up? View all responses

When I was five years old, I wanted to be a peacemaker. I used to ask my mother and father, “Why is there war?” Asking that question would break my heart and make me cry.

As a little boy, I wanted to put an end to war. I still do. I wanted people to be kind to each other. I still do.

The wars around the world break my heart. The verbal hostility in my own country does too. But what can anyone do about it?

Start small. True relationships are heart-connections. When hearts harden relationships break. A tender, Spirit-led heart can often soften a hardened heart. When a broken relationship comes to your mind approach the person with love, humbly seeking reconciliation.

Show that you care about and value the person, even if you feel like they don’t care about and value you. If you’ve done anything that brought them offence, communicate sincere apology and remorse, verbally and physically demonstrate sorrow and repentance, and directly ask for their forgiveness.

Let go of both shame and blame so God can mend your heart and the other person’s. You can’t always completely restore a relationship, but you can soften your heart so that you can more freely open up to and surrender to the reconciling presence of the risen Jesus.

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