Friday 24 June 2016

Blessed are the Peacemakers

I was convinced we were going to stay in the EU this morning.

The headlines would be a triumphant we have voted remain. A jubilant European flag waving.

It was never an easy vote. I have been swayed by both sides and heard, read around the debate. I'm no expert but I've not taken this vote lightly either.

On the one hand my heart was pining for something different to the status quo, business as unusual, a gamble, a new way of doing things.

My head however, was saying that strength came in working even harder at peace and unity. (I was even sighing as I said these words in my head). These efforts are, as I am realising, not cheap. They cost dearly: energy, passion, continual door knocking, inviting and table conversations and the sheer money involved thinking surely there's someone who can pay for this and realising that there's no one but you to step up and fork out the cash, the time, the energy, the persuasion, the sleeplessness and drive to get out of bed yet again to do the same. The gains as well are often small and almost baby steps. No 'Big Bang for a Buck' more like a 'pindrop for an IOU for more money than you have in a noisy room'.

This is the price of peace. It's you.

You can't buy it off amazon.

Peace is not cheap. And peacemakers are selling their souls, bodies to be slaves to this idea. Whether it's in the office, the school, the streets, the Calais Jungle, or the slums of Kiberia or the corridors of the Governments and United Nations.

Their opposition is: doubt, despair, laughter at your expense, ridicule, jibes, shaming, slander.

Their allies: belief, hope, love, collaboration, community, courage.

All that keeps going round and round my head are the words "blessed are the peacemakers".

I'm upset by the vote this morning. The EU in itself is not so much the issue for me, nor is the fact that the outcome didn't represent my vote nor my voice. But what really gets me is that we gave in to the opponents of peacemaking and peace building and bought into their rhetoric. That makes me feel used and dirty.

But peace is something that this family believes in and we're willing to pay the price. We're not giving up because of this vote and all the rhetoric that comes with it. We still believe in those words "blessed are the peacemakers" and stand with those who strive for peace.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Newlands Road,Tunbridge Wells,United Kingdom

Sunday 19 June 2016

If only



If only you didn't fall out
If only somehow your mum saved you
If only you were strong enough to fly

If only we didn't find you as we rushed out
If only we didn't stop our curious boy who saw you first
If only we remained oblivious of your diminishing existence as you lay breathing your last few breaths 

If only we knew exactly what you needed
If only we knew how to help you  
If only we could actually do something meaningful for you 

But it was your last breaths that we heard
But it was your body that we tried to warm
But it was only what we could do as life whisked us away for but an hour.

We did come back
You had breathed your last.
We did come back to see what more we could do
But there was nothing to do.
We did come back. But you were not alive. 

If only we could have seen you fly
If only we could have heard you sing 
If only you had survived 





Thursday 16 June 2016

Reunion

War is hell.

When it ends do you just pick up where you left from. Go back to the house you lived in. Buy coffee from the people who attacked you. It's a game changer. A world that is pulled away from beneath your feet leaving you alone, destitute and permanently amongst strangers.

The strength that remains turns towards survival. Clinging to the little that you already possess and the ones you travel with. Their safety become paramount.

This week a family I know prepare to reunite with a daughter, a sister next week.

They were separated in the aftermath of a cruel war that claimed a brother and son and a husband and father. Shortly after the mobs came for more. Violating. Stripping dignity from this family. Helpless. Alone. 

They are thrown out of their home. A battered mother and her four young children. A son and three girls. The youngest; a few years old. Their neighbours turning upon them. 

The war ends. 

Their lives are overturned. No going back. Spending the next few years in a slum like community. The peace keepers remain.

The mother is given an option to spare her youngest this life that ensnares them. The poverty is more than cruel. It's cold. It's hunger. It's hopeless. It's loneliness. It's boredom. It's powerlessness. It's welcoming the stares of pity. Salvation, however, is offered to spare her child.  To give her a future. To allow her the chance to grow up free from this place. The decision: to allow another to take the child and raise them.

An indecent proposal. 

Painfully and reluctantly she accepts under conditions to keep in touch. To allow a return and access to the daughter & sister. 

The family say goodbye. 

The deal doesn't work out. They are palmed off after. They misunderstood their terms and were misled. A family ripped apart once again. 

It's hard to find anything of hope in all of this. Sometimes it seems the only thing to do is to stop and just sit down with each other. No words. 

This week I've been asked to pray as well over a decade later this young girl, now a young lady, returns to her family.

One of the sisters said "Soon my dream will become reality and that's all thanks to God."

In our prayers.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Newlands Road,Tunbridge Wells,United Kingdom