Daily Leading Toward Peace

Dear God of Peace,

This morning I watched two neighbors argue over a property line — voices rising, fingers pointing, years of friendship unraveling over eighteen inches of grass. And I thought of the Anabaptist farmers in Lancaster County who, when a fence dispute arose, would simply move their own fence back a foot. Not because they were wrong, but because they believed the relationship was worth more than the land.

"Blessed are the peacemakers," Jesus said in Matthew 5:9, "for they will be called children of God." Not blessed are the peacekeepers — those who stuff conflict into silence and call it harmony. The eirēnopoioi, the peace-makers, are builders. They hammer and sweat. They wade into the mess with open hands and say, "There is a better way, and I will help us find it."

Lord, make me that kind of builder today. Give me the courage of Dirk Willems, who turned back on the ice to rescue the very guard chasing him to his death — because even an enemy's life bore Your image. That is the Anabaptist heart: peace that costs something, love that moves toward danger rather than away from it.