"I must be the change that I want to see in the world."

Gandhi said, "I must be the change that I want to see in the world." 

Change.  What is the change that I want to see in the world?
I want to see PEACE in the world ...

PAIX (french) ...
LAPE PAZ (Creole) ...
ACAHUKMA (Choctaw Houma Indian) 

How do you say peace in the language you first learned?

When I talk about peace in the world, I am not just talking about peace as a calm feeling inside a person.  I am not talking about a world full of people who live in their own isolated place of inner tranquility.  I am also not talking about peace in the sense of an absence of physical conflict or a world where we would just ignore each other to "keep" the peace.  

I mean Peace in the Hebrew "Shalom" sense of the word.  Shalom means completeness in number, safety and soundness in body, welfare and health and prosperity, peace and friendship in human relationships and with God in a covenant relationship. (bibleworks word analysis)  The last part sounds like something Jesus would say!  (Matthew 12:28-31)

There is a communal sense to the Hebrew way of shalom ...Listen to the beauty of this communal blessing that many of us have heard a countless number of times in our own communities:

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;  the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you "shalom."  (Numbers 6:24-26)  

Now look a little closer.   The Lord (Yehovah = our God) bless (barak = adore) you and keep (shamar = protect, watch over) you.  The Lord make his face (paniym = presence) to shine upon (owr = light up or illuminate) you, and be gracious (chanan = show compassion or favor) to you; the Lord lift up (nasa' = sustain or endure) his countenance (paniym = presence) upon you, and give you shalom. (enhanced by bibleworks word analysis)

As I struggle with what it means to change so that I am the "change I want to see in the world"
Hear this blessing going out to all who sit with me in my struggle and desire to change ...

My dear friends in Mission, May God adore you and protect you.  May God be present to you, illuminate your life, and show you compassion.  May God be a sustaining presence in your life and lead you into relationships of wholeness with God and with others.  

One last question for you to ponder.  Please share your thoughts with our readers:
What is the change that YOU want to see in the world?