Peace, as I consider it, does not mean joining hands across the world to battle evil. Evil will always be evil. It is a constant in our life here that requires continual vigilance. But evil does not preclude peace.
True peace, in my mind, is a state within my soul and not one imposed upon me by others. Peace comes through love. Love of my family, love of my country, and love of myself.
Madeline L’Engle understood love and the peace it brings, I think, when she wrote two of my most favorite bits:
I do not want to be indifferent to the joys and beauties of this life. For through these, as through pain, we are enabled to see purpose in randomness, pattern in chaos. We do not have to understand to believe that behind the mystery and the fascination there is love.
and
But the wonderful thing, whether we are together or apart, is to know that he is in the world, and that we belong together. And what I must learn is love with all of me, giving all of me, and yet remain whole in myself. Any other kind of love is too demanding of the other; it takes, rather than gives. To love so completely that you lose yourself in another person is not good. You are giving a weight, not the sense of lightness and light that loving someone should give. To love wholly, generously, and yet retain the core that makes you you.
Madeline L’Engle, “Two-Part Invention”
I wish I had the ability to express myself that beautifully, but I embrace her words fully and know that peace within and love between is simply perfect.
