“a time of peace…” (Ecclesiastes 3: 8)

A time of peace? Please hurry up! Tension and turmoil, conflict and confusion, noises and nuisances are the order of the day. Who among us couldn’t stand a time of peace? Peace in our relationships. Peace in our homes. Peace on our jobs. Peace on our streets. Peace in Africa, Afghanistan and America. It’s about time for peace.

It’s time to wage peace. Just as war is waged, so must be peace. The military-industrial complex of which President Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke exists to support and promote war. Its congressional advocates, its top brass at the Pentagon, its manufacturers of armaments keep war going. To counteract this, there must be an equally efficient and fervent movement to attain peace. Peace does not suddenly appear. It must be sought after and fought for with the same intensity, passion and vigor as war in both public and personal situations.

It’s time to make peace. True enough, peace must be waged. However, at some point, in order for peace to come, the parties involved must decide to make peace. The futility of fighting, the weariness of war and the death and destruction such conflict inflicts should help us come to the conclusion that it is time to make peace. Here again, time to make peace does not only relate to nations at odds, but individuals, families and whole communities as well.. As Beatle John Lennon wrote during the time of the Vietnam War: “All we are saying is give peace a chance!”

It’s time to have peace. This is the time when we experience and enjoy peace. Once the peace has been waged and won, we should relish it, rejoice about it and take the necessary steps to ensure that it remains. Thankfully, we are not forced to do this alone: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” (Isaiah 26: 3)

It’s time to be at peace. Here, is it possible to be in a time of war and still be at peace. While literal or figurative weapons are trained on you and violent storms are swirling around you, it is a moment to repeat with confidence what Horatio Spafford wrote: When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.