We recently had dinner in a charming Connecticut village. Walking out of the restaurant I saw this worn flag behind glass. As a lover of American history, I paused to take a pic.
God is speaking to me about being a peacemaker. When this flag was created America was intertwined with the institution of slavery. Those who wanted peace on earth knew it couldn’t come while Africans were treated as subhuman.
My husband is a veteran with a high capacity for stressful situations. He’s shared that when his team went on rescue missions they couldn’t worry about small things. They’d ask themselves, “Are babies burning?” He explained that if babies were burning or people were caught in life or death situations, that was worth getting worked up about. Even now when I ask him if he’s freaking out over something he’ll say, “Are babies burning”?
Often I’ve wonder how one best conducts themselves when they know babies are burning every day.
The prophet Jeremiah said, “They have treated superficially the [bloody] broken wound of My people, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ When there is no peace.” Jeremiah 6:14 Romans 12:8, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
I am a peacemaker at heart. I want to see our nation prosper as “one nation under God”.
At the same time I don’t want to settle for a false peace. The Civil war is an example of the truth that sometimes you make war to bring peace. I’ve seen people seek to diminish the death of the unborn and belittle those who fight for their lives. They demand we focus our attention elsewhere. Their version of peace is us being quiet and looking the other way.
As long as America sees the destruction of unborn lives as a “right”, I will war for lives to be saved. I will wage spiritual war through prayer and fasting for the people in the abortion industry to be set free. I will cry out against a false peace that lulls us into complacency while the reality of “babies burning” should compel us to action. I don’t want to keep a false peace. I want to be a peacemaker.
"To contend for liberty and to deny that blessing to others involves an inconsistency not to be excused.” John Jay, a founding father
