One last post before I hit the hay!
Please keep the people of Burma in your prayers. It sounds as though a massacre has transpired there - numbering in the thousands - as reported by a military official who has defected to Thailand. As I am thinking about this horrible situation, I am reminded tonight in our small group study on Elijah that my God has the power to consume stone in one fair swoop of fire. Can we call on Him to bring hope in this dire situation?
Pray.
4 comments:
I get so overwhelmed hearing things like this. It is unimaginable. I just don't understand how people can do this to one another.
In so many ways, I feel my most fervent prayer for our world is for peace.
I think peace is good, but not without freedom. We might say Burma has been at "peace" for years, but in reality it's an oppressive peace. My vote here is for freedom for innocent people who in essence have no rights.
I feel the same for the people of Darfur, Sudan, and feel like help in that region was very long in coming. I just hope the international community doesn't sweep Burma under the carpet in the same way.
I don't think peace without freedom is peace at all...just the absence of armed conflict.
I believe peace begins within us--the 'peace of God'--a spirit of peace. It transforms us, and how we see our neighbors. There is no 'us' and 'them' because we see that we are all one.
This, I think, is the beginning of change in the world...and where peace begins.
It is not a short term solution, I realize. But while love takes time, it is the greatest power of all.
How to make this tangible? I don't know. We traditionally try to solve war with agendas, broad initiatives, and implementations. And in the history of creation, we have yet to see true peace.
Perhaps love is like the mustard seed...starting small, but once it takes hold in individuals, it flourishes so that the earth is filled with its blooms.
I think I've heard that somewhere before. ;-)
I can hardly wrap my feeble mind around this right now... so sorry!
Unfortunately, in this situation, I think the struggle for power - ultimate - has taken a violent form. How would you suggest that be met? I think the Monks stepped forward in the most peaceful way possible only to be met with a violent death, squelching of their request for freedom. It's a difficult situation to resolve peacefully given the outcome.
I think we all love the idea of solving problems in a peaceful, loving way, I'm just not convinced that it's always possible to do so. I do, however, feel that it's extremely important to have many viewpoints represented - including peaceful, loving options - in trying to broker a solution.
In trying to view this situation through the perfect eyes of our Savior, I sense a deep grieving for all those involved and a calling to the world to give the defenseless victims a voice. I think love can transcend many things, I think prayer can move mountains. That's where I'll be about this one - on my knees.
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