On January 29, 2023 I wrote in my journal:
“Dare I believe in peace for a world caught in the snares of domination, greed, and disregard for human life? Dare I believe in big-hearted love, self-giving service, and a setting aside of conflict, hatred and hurtful indifference? Only if I remember the kindness, caring, and selfless compassion of people whose stories never make national news yet stay forever in the grateful hearts of those who’ve been recipients of that goodness.”
One of those stories occurred several weeks ago when I learned of neighbors assisting an older couple in their mid-eighties, both elders using walkers in their home and no longer able to drive. Living in a rural area without public transportation they were increasingly concerned about finding a way to travel to scheduled medical appointments. Imagine their relief and joy when neighbors several miles away happened to stop by, detected their need, and eagerly volunteered to provide their transportation.
It is this type of compassionate attitude and quiet action that contributes to a foundation for peace desperately longed for in our world. We cannot stop believing in the possibility of a major change to move humankind from deadly violence to global peace. I’ve begun praying daily the following World Prayer for Peace that was written in 1981 with the intention that “people around the world would offer this prayer at midday everyday. …around the globe a continuous vigil.”
Lead me from death to life / from falsehood to truth. / Lead me from despair to hope/ from fear to trust. / Lead me from hate to love / from war to peace. / Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe.
Peace begins in the minds and hearts of individuals, and that includes my own where rancor and division have no place if my life is to make a positive difference. I believe that to be a person of peace is to be a person of compassion, one who unites rather than divides, who seeks to love rather than to vent animosity, one who gives wholeheartedly rather than grasps selfishly, a person at home with one’s self, and consequently at home with others.
My image for January is that of my feet. I have long felt a resonance with the verse from Isaiah52:7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace (some translations: “bringing peace). I vividly recall some years ago a woman who came regularly to the Dances of Universal Peace. I marveled at how gracefully she moved in spite of her frog-like, large-bunioned, knobby-jointed feet. Although those feet brought her there, it was her heart that made the difference. She was known as a kind person. an affirming, justice-oriented, good-news presence. When she died, far too young, her death was mourned by many who had experienced her big-hearted graciousness.
And so I am trusting a Spirit of Enduring Peace to continue to reach into human hearts in 2024, and I am planning to pray daily for people near and far, that we may respond in a way that leads to furthering harmony and well-being on our beloved planet.
Abundant peace,
Joyce Rupp
p.s. I am now posting several times a week on Instagram. @JoyceRuppauthor
The New Year of 2024
Joyce Rupp
I want to be there at dawn’s arrival
when the last stars of night yawn,
and the morning’s first radiant smile
filters through the coming of daylight.
I want to be there at the sun’s setting
when birds chatter their evening prayers,
and darkness falls like a gentle cloak
over the planet’s beloved residents.
I want to be there in human history
when peace overtakes all violence,
and each unsettled heart leaves behind
whatever blocks the flow of kindness.
I want to be there when true kinship
unites me to people here and everywhere,
gathering the enduring thread of Spirit
into a strong bond that nothing can separate.
I want to be there.
