God's Shalom

Peace be with you.
It sounds so easy, so comfortable,
so politically correct.
But there is a price.
How can we be at peace
with God and our neighbours,
as well as ourselves?
Aren't those conflicting priorities?
How can we judge their relative importance?
How can we begin to have peace,
make peace, be peace?
It's all so personal!

If we claim to have good news to share,
we must also be good news
to those we want to share with.

That may cost us something --
everything.
Save your life and lose it;
lose your life and save it.

God's economy is strange and paradoxical.
The only thing we cannot forfeit
is the love of God.
Our souls are not for sale.
We give what we do not own;
we receive what we have not earned.

How is healing possible in such a world as this?
We have no control; we can only ask.
God will not be manipulated.