Peace with God

"Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."  -James 3:18

This grass being blown by the wind along Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah Mountains reminded me of the reapers Lilias Trotter wrote of:  "The cornfields here have been so beautiful.  One thing we like to watch is a curious gesture with which the women reapers swing the sheaf over their heads, like a kind of wave-offering. . . ."

We can't see the wind, but we can see the effects of it.  In my photo the grass is bent over.  When the women swung the sheaves over their heads they would have stirred the air about them.  It became their wave-offering, as Lilias called it.  For me the movement of air would have emphasized the movement of the Spirit in and through my life.

Today's scripture uses the imagery of the harvest.  I remember the first time I realized there is a difference between being a peacemaker and a peacekeeper.  A peacekeeper keeps peace by negotiating the terms of the peace agreement and seeing that they are enforced.  Peacemaking, however, is a way of life.  When we sow peace through everything we do--our speech and our actions--the effects of peace will be seen.  The harvest will be righteousness--peace with God.

I am grateful that I can experience the peace of God in my life by being a peacemaker.