“He shall judge
between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
Isaiah 2:4
Just a couple of days removed Memorial Day and this
passage gets stuck in my head. Maybe it’s
just one of those passages that unveil my pacifistic leanings just a bit. But other things come to play also.
I think of Mary, whose funeral I officiated on
Saturday. She was a rarity. There aren’t many female World War II
veterans out there. Now there is one
less. I think of my own father, who has
been gone for almost a decade. He also
served our country in WWII in Germany. He was proud of his service. I think of our younger son, who at age 24 has
already spent nine months of his young life out in the Afghani desert.
And I wish I didn’t have to state that Mary, my father,
or my son were/are veterans. If you
really think about it, war is such a waste of human lives and energy. Lord, can’t we find something better to do
with our time/energy/resources? As Edwin Star once sang, “War,
huh, good God, What is it good
for? Absolutely nothing….”
Mr. Starr may have sung about it, but Isaiah prophesied
about such a time when people would not learn war any more. But that time did not come in Isaiah’s stint
as prophet. It didn't come in Edwin
Starr’s stint as singer. It hasn’t come in our time either. Honestly, Sept. 11, 2001 sucked the pacifism
out of my bones. Some remnant infection
remains in my marrow however.
I pray.
For the day. When
swords are beaten into plowshares; when spears are bent into pruning hooks,
when nations cease to raise arms against each other, when studying peace
becomes the norm. When the Prince of Peace truly reigns.
I pray.
Until then, I am thankful for Mary, my Father, and my son
and the countless others who have showed far more courage than I in defending
our nation. Because of the likes of
them, I can even dare put these words to paper…er...internet.
But let’s stay in prayer…..
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