Peace on earth. Can it be?
Can we have peace on earth?
Can we have peace on earth the child asks?
The child who was born in Bethlehem in a manger bare
Can we ever learn to live in brotherhood with one another?
A child in Thailand digs through garbage for rotting food
People in Malawi go without anything to eat
A homeless man in Toronto sleeps on cardboard
A child in Africa is dying of starvation
The prostitute feels judgment and the stinging pain of abuse
The addict longs for freedom from their addiction
The weary pastor is burnt out
Those broken inside by their prisons of shame cry out for wholeness of body, mind and soul
The dejected, rejected and the lonely want our acceptance and love
The husband asks to his wife, “Do you love me still?”
The wife asks her husband, “Do you still love me?”
All the world’s children ask, “Why won’t you give peace a chance?
Why won’t you give peace a chance?”
The C.E.O. is burnt out out by too many demands
The single mother raising children all alone
The unemployed longing for work
The student working two or three jobs to pay for their tuition
That teacher who is so exhausted and needs a break
All abused who cry for healing from hate-filled words
The African man prays for en education that he might educate others
There are those struggling with illness and disease
They ask for our love and understanding
The poor ask for bread
There are those who need a place to lay their weary head
There are soldiers who will never be coming home
There are wars and more wars yet to come
Because we still have not learned to live together as one
We still have not learned to live together as one
All these souls ask for peace
Then, the question comes
Peace on earth. Can it be?
I hope and pray for a day when we shall see the dream of Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa and Gandhi come true of peace for me
And peace for you.
Peace on earth. Can it be?
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Posted on December 16, 2013, in On Christianity, On Life's Purpose, On Loving Others, thoughts and tagged abuse, Africa, Bethlehem, Bing Crosby, blog, blogging, Can it be?, Christ child, christianity, christmas, comes, cry, David Bowie, disease, drum, dying, earth, Education, Gandhi, gifts, Glory, God, healed, home, homeless, honour, illness, inspiration, Jesus, judgment, King, Little drummer boy, love, Malala Yousafzai, Malawi, man, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, namger, pain, peace, Peace on earth, people, poem, poor, prayer, prostitute, relationship, see, soldiers, starvation, suffering, Thailand, thoughts, Toronto, Wait, welfare, World, wounded. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments.
Mind's Seat 
Even if we solved all the social issues , the religious wars are never going to end in the middle east, or at least not in our life time. They have been active with rest since the beginning of time. Its a sad situation.
Hi Becki
It is a sad situation in the Middle East that none of us here of ourselves can correct. What we can do is bring peace into one life, mentor one person, be there for those who need us. Think about this for a moment. What if we collectively agreed that we would commit ourselves to being a facilitator of change in one life. Then, that life changes another life, who changes another life.
Mother Teresa is quoted as saying, “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
Working together we could change so many lives. It’s not a new and innovative concept. But if people in their communities would sit down together in a spirit of brotherhood using the beautiful minds we have been given, I have no doubt there would be creative and even visionary thinking from some and practical thinking from ohers. Wedding the practical and the visionary thinking together many would be surprised how community advocacy can and does make a difference.
Gandhi was right when he called the world to change themselves in order to change the world. Change that lasts begins as we look at those aspects of our own character that need to evolve. That process for me at times has and continues to be uncomfortable. But I remain committed to the path of becoming a better me than I am now.
Let us all seek to become a better me.
Kevin
Very well said. Daily I strive to be a better me.
Hi Becki
Thanks for the compliment. Striving to be a better me, That is itself a journey that all of us should be on. The toughest lessons we are taught don’t come when the sky that is our life is sunny and bright. We learn most about being the best we can be when some calamity or hardship comes. These trying times teach us where we need to grow as we discover our Achilles heel, the weakest part of ourselves that needs to be strengthened.
All of us are on a journey. No one voyage through life is less important than the other. The important thing is that we all never lose that sense within us that we have yet much to learn. We don’t go too far off track in our personal development if we always maintain a teachable spirit.
Have a light-filled week!
Kevin
It Can Be…but only if and when we Let it Be 😉
Hi Morgan
Thanks so much for commenting on this piece. I too believe we can have peace. We remain periously poised on our own destruction if people don’t stop this insanity of war. Albert Einstein said, ““I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
Wow! What beutiful soul-filled writing! I particularly like this description of the morning.
“The Compelling rose-hued blush of Morn, and trailing lavender of night, Joined and Merged, as if each were kissing the other in parting, and as the Blazing sun stepped quietly forth from behind the sill of the world, a Gloriously Radiant jet of Light Sprung up from his Beaming Smile. A Triumphal advent of Luminous Day standing, Rejoicing, upon the coattails of night. Streaming Light Blazed forth, Spreading across the sky in shades of Fervent Jubilee, fair violets, coy pinks, glittering oranges, shimmering so brightly as to bring tears to your eyes in gazing upon them, as if by One Consent the Spirit of Miraculous Morning and the Spirit Dwelling Within Joined in that brief moment of Jocund Praise.”
If you haven’t done so, you should collect your thoughts together and sell them as an e-book. I find your writing so filled with a call to embrace the gift that is life.
I am now following your blog.
Keep up the great work!
Kevin
Thank You EVER so much Kevin. I do so appreciate your heartfelt comment and encouragement towards publishing. I confess, I have long considered publishing a book or two of poetry on Kindle Direct, and have often wondered if Poetry is something people even want to read anymore, but I’ve been encouraged on many sides lately and believe it is a whisper I need to heed. Now I just have to get past the formatting fear 😉
Hi Morgan
I am a trained writer and journalist. Thoughtfully consider that if many people are encouraging you to publish your poetry, that you are getting more than a whisper to your spirit. Meaningful poetry does sell. Much of it is self-published. If you have the funds, consider coordinated self-publishing with a company like Iuniverse. These kinds of companies take care of the formatting, editing and even marketing of your book on several web sites. Some Iuniverse self-published books have gone on to be picked up by literary agents, and then major publishing houses.
We live in a fast-paced society. Even in northern Ontario a self-published author has been selling hundreds of his 80 page book about northern Ontario for $22 each!
Also, you could look into the writer’s guild called Writer’s University village. For a small membership fee you get mentorship from published authors and access to all of their writing courses even to the MFA level. Many of their members have gone on to have their articles, stories and books published.You get a certificate for every course you complete. Here’s their web site.
https://www.writersvillage.com/wvu2/
Hope that leads to you being a published author.
You are a gifted and talented writer. Pursue that dream with all your passion and heart. Your spirit-filled writing will be a blessing to many. I can tell you with all of my heart that your writing touches me, reaches me deep within.
Have a great time this Christmas season with your family!
Keep on writing. Keep on writing.
Kevin
Oh Kevin…how can I ever thank you! I do so very much appreciate your honest support, encouragement and all the invaluable information you have shared. THANK YOU 🙂 I will indeed look into every avenue you have proposed. Unfortunately my funds are currently very limited, but I had thought that I could begin with Kindle Direct and, should it profit me enough to enable pursuit of other, better, opportunities, then it is quite worthwhile. Again, I do Thank You Ever So!
Blessings to you and Yours as well and I hope to see you round the blogosphere 🙂
Thank YOU 🙂
If we all come together, we can rightly live in peace. The real problem lies in when the world will ever come together to think as one for the betterment of all. God help us all.
Hi Sally Success
Yes, I couldn’t agree more. There is a growing inhumanity in our world. We still have not fully heeded the call of Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King to live in peace and harmony with one another. The death toll rises in Africa and the Middle East because people refuse to sit down together and work out their differences.
The Lord needs people like you, who will call your community and our world to seriously examine the dangerous road we are all going down. It concerns me greatly the amount of apathy that exists here in Canada to both community and global concerns. The average turnout at elections is around 30%. Then, these same people who didn’t vote complain that their concerns are not being addressed.
Madiba learned the critical lesson through imprisonment that hatred only breeds more hatred. Indifference to the suffering of others only fuels the fire of a far more pervasive callousness to the suffering of others. Nelson Mandela called his people to reconciliation. I like how this Discovery TV video portrays Mandela’s call to reconciliation.
Bishop Don Dabula at Mandela’s funeral service in Mandela’s southeastern childhood village of Qunu said,
He “gave his life for the sake of justice and freedom, who lived the world healing practices of forgiveness and inclusivity, compassion and integrity,” said Bishop Don Dabula. “We praise and thank you, oh God, for that Nelson Mandela, for his faithfulness to your call, his example of justice, peace and reconciliation and his courage to endure suffering, rejection and persecution for the sake of others.”
As Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years of wrongful confinement he said, “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”
Nelson Mandela’s call to live in peace and brotherhood with one another is our collective call. I have looked at much of your writing on your blog. I would like you to prayerfully consider becoming an author on Mind’s Seat. There is so much you could teach us all about African culture and about the state of things as they really are in both Cameroon and Africa. What touches me most about your writing is your hopefuleness and how you inspire me that working together, believing and praying together, we can make a difference.
The faith in your Lord that shines through your writing is quite evident. With all the corruption and oppression you write about, you call all of us to a higher plane of thinking.
Just ask Marmar to send you an invitation. If you feel that tug at your spirit that it is God’s call on your life to be an author on Mind’s Seat, just make a comment to this effect on one of Marmar’s blog pieces. You provide a picture and a profile summary describing yourself to your readers and voila, you have officially become an author.
You would be such a great addition to Marmar’s team. Please prayerfully consider all I have said.
Geseënde Kersfees!
Kevin
Every child must be made aware; every child must be made to care…
Yes. If we can get the children convinced of the necessity for peace, then the possibility exists those children when they grow up will speak a language of peace, not war, love, not hate. There is a cycle of hatred passed down from the adults to the children that must be broken. When a 13 year-old is trained to kill as a terrorist, when he or she is taught to hate, that’s a problem those countries involved must seek to change through education.
Terrorism teaches hatred. Educators need to have as a central part of their curriculum lessons from history detailing the destruction living with hate and intolerance breeds.
More parents need to teach their children their life can be destroyed by hatred. The cycle must be broken for any hope of being a more loving and just society.
Thanks for your succinct comment on the song.
Kevin