PEACE

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

-Wendell Berry

On the second Sunday of Advent we light the candle of peace:

Dear Jesus
Thank you that we can know peace in our hearts
that transcends understanding; that brings comfort
amidst life’s struggles and blows.
Thank you for the challenge to be a peacemaker
not just a keeper of the peace -
to actively participate in the bringing
about of peace in our turbulent world.
Thank you for being the Prince of Peace. Amen.

Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the Son of peace to you