How to be a peacemaker

Lesley Clyne

Real peace comes from knowing that God, or good, is in charge of everything. A hymn tells us: "Only God can bring us gladness, /Only God can give us peace."^{Christian Science Hymnal, No. 263.} Even when people are fighting, Love (which is another name for God) can bring peace because, as Christian Science shows, Love is all that really governs man.

So what do peacemakers do? They like and love other people enough to want to see in them the man God knows—in other words, their real selfhood as His perfect, loving children, or ideas. It's natural to want to do this. Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health, "And Love is reflected in love."^{Science and Health, p. 17.} That is her spiritual interpretation of Christ Jesus' words in the Lord's Prayer: "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."^{Matt. 6:12.} One who knows that Love is King and governs everything brings the power of Love to settle any situation and make peace. Christ Jesus gave us many examples of how to do this, and the Bible promises us that the Christ—the spirit of Love that heals mankind—will "guide our feet into the way of peace."^{Luke 1:79.} Jesus also gave us the beatitude "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."^{Matt. 5:9.} In this true story a girl tells how divine Love guided her to be a peacemaker.

"There was a boy in our class who was very, very naughty. He did such bad things—climbing up the classroom walls and breaking things. And he seemed to get on very badly with the teacher of my class. One day, when my teacher told him off very strictly for throwing sticks and stones at a group of girls, the boy swore at my teacher and then ran out of school.

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