Peace Seeds
by Susie Michelle Cortright

There is a law that guides the peace process, and while world leaders may disregard it, your average mommy knows it pretty well.

It is this: The world can be only as peaceful as you are. And it all starts with you.

I have three kids under the age of 5. If I wake up in a sour mood, the day is headed for disaster. For the sake of all involved, I must have a little talk with myself and get back into a peaceful place before I greet their small sleepy faces each morning.

This is not just a nice idea that makes life easier. It's survival. Even if I offer up my biggest fake smile, they can tell. The four-year-old whines, the two-year-old cries, and the baby knits his brows and searches my face for some sign that my mood is going to crack and sunshine is going to burst right out of my face.

Why am I starting by talking about peace of the family in this world where the high-stake international peace process is teetering on the brink of who-knows-what? Because we forget sometimes that it all begins here.

The word "peace" has taken on a strange shadow these days. I watch some very angry people protest for a more peaceful world. I see all manner of things done in the name of peace to the point where I don't know who or what to believe. I see "peace" understood as something that happens out there, by military and political leaders the world over.

But the hard part of the peace process begins when we understand that the peace of the world begins no further than the kitchen table.

The massive problems we're having with peace on a global level got their start on a personal scale. One business owner decided to exploit an employee. One parent psychologically ravaged a child, who grew up to lead a nation. One person saw something that shouldn't be but thought "who am I to stop it?"

We start to solve these big problems when we understand that every thought we think, word we utter, action we take, and dollar we spend, brings the world closer to--or further from--peace. Right now, today. In short, I guess, we wage peace by embodying peace, and we do that by loving our guts out, whenever we get the chance.

That means we have to start by looking directly at the decisions we make all day long. We wage peace by refusing to wallow in thoughts that pull us away from a peaceful place. By letting go of anger and guilt. By not being too busy to reach out to the person who we know needs it. By deciding against spreading that juicy little rumor. By refusing to buy anything that makes us wonder how it could possibly have been brought to market at such a price. By overlooking the silly stuff and accepting our friends and family just the way they are.

When we embody peace ourselves, we put love into action in this world...right here, where we live, breathe, and wait in line at Wal-mart (which, as any mother of small children will tell you, can be a decidedly unpeaceful thing to do.)

When others are in the presence of such peace, they begin to feel it themselves. Then they take it into their own worlds. The process is very natural when we recognize that every squeak of kindness is a step toward peace. Every peep of love is a step toward a greater awareness of God in our everyday lives.

From that peaceful place, we ask for (and listen to) guidance for own personal part in solving the problems produced by our collective, unconscious disregard for the peaceful path in the past.

Copyright 2003 Susie Cortright

Susie Michelle Cortright is the author of several books for women and founder of the award-winning Momscape.com, a website designed to help busy women find balance. Visit http://www.momscape.com today and get Susie's course-by-email "6 Days to Less Stress."