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Blessed are Those Who Care. Awake
Series, Part 25
She was only ten when she wrote a letter to the newly appointed
Soviet President Yuri Andropov in December 1982, asking in no
uncertain terms if he was going to lead a nuclear war against the
United States of America. News on the television in those in days
was scary (It still hasn't changed!), and there was lots of talk of
a possible nuclear war between these two super powers. With this in
mind, Samantha Smith from Manchester, Maine, courageously undertook
the task of directly contacting the president of the U.S.S.R. And
President Andropov replied to her letter, inviting Samantha and her
parents to visit his country the next summer.
Soon after this, the Soviet Union opened talks with the U.S. This
led the end of the 20th century Cold War. Many believe that this all
stemmed from the letter of that ten-year old child.
Samantha continued to promote world peace until her untimely death
at the age of 13, when she and her father were killed in a plane
crash near Auburn, Maine.
What are we doing to promote peace around us? To be a peacemaker, we
have to have love, true love for all mankind. Any prejudice, hatred,
bias and unforgiveness have to be set aside in order to make peace
possible. Peacemakers are there to protect, trust, persevere and
hope. Without hope there would be no peace. But then without love,
peace wouldn't be possible either!
"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1
Cor 13:6-7 NIV)
Interestingly that among the signs of times in Matthew 24, "love
growing cold" and "wars and rumours of wars" seem to go hand in
hand.
"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you
are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to
come." (Matt 24:6 NIV)
"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow
cold..." (Matt 24:12 NIV)
Maybe we can learn something from this ten-year-old who decided
peace was more important than our own interests. We can start this
kind of peace in our own neighbourhood. We can start with our own
families.
Remember Joe? Yeah, he is anti-social and his jokes are disgusting.
It is such an utter shame that he abandoned his family!
But maybe, just maybe if we take the time and effort to forgive him
and shower him with love, just maybe, he would come around. You
might even be surprised by his many hidden qualities! Maybe he took
a wrong turn somewhere in life, but he too, is a child of God. Our
accusations won't help him to find the way. Only peace and love will
do that.
And what about Lucy, Henrietta and Philip? They too are yearning for
acceptance. Are we willing to foster peace in these relationships?
Are we courageous enough to love as deeply as Jesus did? Or are we
letting events around us turn our love cold?
Remember Samantha Reed Smith. We can learn a lot from children!
"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little
children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 18:3
NIV)
Rob Chaffart |
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