"Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world."  Etty Hillesum

These cold winter days are good for reflection. I believe we are a people hungry for reflection. We move at such a pace that we barely finish one task, one event, one relationship, before we move on to the next. Reflection seems to be missing from nearly all areas of life, even in the church. But reflection is what allows us to go the deep part of who we are, to peel away the layers of spin that bombard our senses and to get to the kernel of truth..wisdom…the Holy….that is at the heart of all.

It is so easy for me to become overwhelmed and hopeless about the places of war and violence in our world. It is also easy for me to become angry and strident about our leaders and their actions. And then I think of Etty Hillesum whose words are above. She was a young Jewish woman, full of life and creativity who was taken by the Nazis, held in a concentration camp and died there. Her writings are filled with hope and inspiration for seeing the beauty amidst all odds and claiming the ways of peace. For her, peace was more than an absence of war. It was the very way in which we move in the world. It was…it is…the way in which we live with ourselves, with our families, our friends, our enemies. It is a way of living that demands reflection.

I pray that today I may know this deep peace at my very core and that I may move in the world with a  peace that might heal a small, hurting part of this vast and beautiful world. I pray this prayer for you as well.