February 20

Blessed are the Peacemakers

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Matthew 5:9

            Blessed are those who see conflict, enter into it and bring peace for they take after their Heavenly Father. 

            My son does this all the time and I don’t know what to do with it.  He will see an argument, usually involving his sisters fighting or peers picking on each other and he will literally step into the middle and have them focus their attacks on him.  He’ll take a couple of verbal or physical blows then the conflict will dissipate, everyone will move on and he will go back to whatever he was doing.

            He’s a big kid and he has some self defense training, but he’s been doing this since he was little.  Is this a trait that goes across the special needs community or is this a special quirk of my boy?  I’ve seen other peacekeepers on the spectrum, but I’ve never come across someone who so consistently chooses to enter the conflict.

            Being a peacemaker is not a way to make friends.  The peacemaker enters into the heat and emotion and creates a way for the two combatants to become friends.  The peacemaker often leaves the fight with as many injuries as the people who started the conflict, but they value peace more than avoiding getting hurt.

            On the one hand, I am really proud of my peacemakers.  At the IDD center, we had a couple of clients who regularly jumped into the middle of fights.  One client set his dinner plate on the ground and another client did not see it as he walked to the kitchen.  The grilled cheese sandwich was smooshed and tracked through the building, leaving no doubt over who had ruined the young man’s meal.  The suddenly sandwichless client was irate yelling at the other boy, his provider, the cooks and everyone in the building.  A third young man ran into the cacophony, looking to bring peace.  He was pushed, yelled at and threatened but he escorted the angry one upstairs so that he and I could talk.  Our peacemaker knew that he was putting himself in peril, but it was worth it to protect the offending boy and calm his friend.

            I was proud of how hard he was working to bring peace…and I groaned inside.  It was hard enough for him to make friends in neutral situations.  The peacemaker role made it even harder.  I wished that he had stayed quiet and allowed the care providers to intervene.  I wished that he had been the second or third person on the scene to provide support, growing his friendship instead of testing it.

            And yet, Jesus calls peacemakers blessed.  They set aside their own desires and personal gain in order to restore peace to the world.  Instead of just letting the bonfires burn down to coals and letting things sort themselves out, which is my standard conflict strategy, they sacrifice themselves to bring peace.  And they are identified by Jesus as children and heirs of God…

            You see my confusion.

A moment to reflect:

How do you bring peace to the world?