A Much-Needed Testimony of Peace

With the Sunday showdown between two war movies behind us, it’s a good time to talk about peace.

Cat Chapin-Bishop’s beautiful “Peace Testimony: Roots and Fruits” is a great place to start: a moving meditation on peace, testimony, and personal transformation.

“I go to Quaker meeting, not so much to experience peace as to practice it, for peace is much more than the absence of war. I strive to so open myself to the motions of the Spirit I find there that my heart becomes large enough to remember how it feels to listen to that Spirit when I leave meeting for worship behind each week. I am trying to learn how to let that Spirit wash away the cynicism and defensiveness and crushing need to be right that I have built up like armor over the decades, so that I can feel the free movement of the breath of Spirit during the week, reminding me of who I am meant to be: the generous, compassionate, empathic version of me that is God’s version of Cat.

The more time I spend with God, the nearer I feel Her within me. And the more easily I remember that the noisy, opinionated, jarring, and sometimes frightening and infuriating beings I share my life with are reflections of that same Spirit I am trying to love.”

Have you experienced a similar personal transformation toward a more peace-seeking vision of life?