I used to believe that peace was a lower case word.  It was a word used in Christmas carols that I learned in church.  It was a word that I heard thrown around by “hippies” and “free thinkers” and “people who thought different from us” (that’s what I understood at least…).  Then I grew up a little and I realized that some of my thoughts on peace didn’t quite fit the mainstream, at least not the mainstream I was in- small town America.  Somewhere around that time I decided that I was a pacifist.  I could not conceive of how war made anything better, and even at the age of 14 I was simplistic in my solutions to the issues of the world.  So I began to create a world for myself where I would just avoid all violent and aggressive behavior, all aggressors and all things aggressive. So I painted peace signs, researched peaceful paths, and created an environment within me that was all things peaceful.  Yet still I could not get away from aggression- it appeared around me in many forms, and try as I might I could avoid it.  So, I would pretend it didn’t exist, and I could shut myself off to the reality of conflict and anger and strife.

And so I existed.  And so I existed.  And so I existed…….  And then when the existing didn’t work anymore, I made changes.  I made changes to move away from, and close the door on, and send only Peace and Love to the individuals in my life who sent me anger and violence and aggression.

Sometime during this part of my life I began to believe that Peace was a capital P.  And to be in Peace meant to sit in full lotus pose for 1 hour holding prayer beads and chanting.  And if I did this enough, then aggression and violence would not visit me again.  And low and behold- violence and aggression stayed away.  It stayed away for a really long time.  At least in my mind it did.  And then one day it appeared AGAIN- and it was uglier and scarier than I remembered, because I had been so long avoiding any and all things aggressive that I was stunned.

But this time I did something different.  I didn’t just exist.  I didn’t avoid it anymore.  When I woke from my stupor; I did something.  That’s all- I did something.  And at that moment I began to understand the difference between …sleep in Heavenly peace, and Bringing a family to Peace.  Here is the difference.  Peace does not have a little p.  Peace has a capital P.  And the only way to arrive at Peace with a capital P, is to recognize the aggression, identify any injustice, and take a stand against it without resorting to violence yourself.

Peace is not passive.  Peace is active, but it is active in a way that Love and Light are still the only characteristics showing in you at the end.  Peace is Ghandi.  Peace is Martin Luther King Jr.  Peace is Mother Teresa.  Peace is Maya Angelou.  Peace is Oprah. Peace is my Granny, Leila May Sirmon.  Peace is protecting a child from an abuser.  Peace is rescuing young girls from sex trafficking.  Peace is recognizing that we are all One, and if stand by and pretend that violence isn’t happening in my life or your life,  then I am hurting you and myself and each Being on this planet.

So today I have a new definition of Peace- and it is strong, secure, confident, awake and powerful in its response to a planet that could use all the Peaceful Power it can get!