What's a Peacemaker?

The other day as my daughter was going to sleep I prayed over her as I do every night, but something I said caught her attention. When I was done praying she asked me what a Peacemaker is, because I prayed that she would be a peacemaker. All of the sudden I had to explain this idea to a 3 year old and tried to give a simple answer that she could understand. I’m not sure my answer made as much sense as I had hoped.

A few days later we were watching “How to train your dragon” and I quickly realized that this was a picture of what I had tried to explain, and I talked with my little Gracie about how Hiccup was a peacemaker. In the movie Hiccup goes against what everyone else is doing and creatively finds a new way to relate to dragons. He chose friendship and relationship over violence. That is what a peacemaker is, someone who seeks to know and understand the other rather than violently responding out of fear. It is someone who seeks a new way through the complex tensions of relationship.

Maybe this tree is what Peacemaking looks like. It is called the Tree of Life, and was created out of weapons that had been used as the instruments of war and violence. Around the world there are many places that have become memorials to a variety of wars and violence. I find that these memorials tend to serve the purpose of reminding people of historical horrors and acting as a warning to future generations. But this tree of life is a memorial of hope, it is a symbol of resurrection where death has turned to life. It does not call the viewer back into the suffering, it does not stand as a warning, instead it offers hope and beauty that violent men and women cannot silence. This is what peacemakers create in our world. This is what Jesus has called us to. To point the way forward into a prophetic vision of Peace.

The cross is a horrible thing, and yet it is a beautiful thing. In the midst of its violent reality springs hope and beauty. It was created to be a symbol of shame and defeat, but has become a call to hope and a symbol or life. My prayer for my daughter is not just that she would lay down all weapons and be a pacifist (although I do dream this for her), but that she would participate in the beautiful creative act of redeeming the tools of violence in our world into symbols of hope and life. That's not something I can explain to my beautiful little girl, but it is something I can attempt to model for her.