Peace of the Puzzle

Tonight at Youth Group, we went caroling around the church neighborhood. It was fun, except for the spitty rain.

Before we left, our Advent prayer/candle lighting was on peace. I especially like this part, taken from a Benedictine prayer:

God help us to be peacemakers.

Aid us to work for peace,

To take the first step in ending bitterness,

To be the first to hold our hands in friendship and forgiveness.

I gave all the kids a puzzle piece to carry with them this week, to remind them that we are all a part of the peace process.

I know peace is possible; it's like seeing the picture on the outside of a jigsaw puzzle box. All the pieces can come together, it just takes time, patience and a lot of work. You can't force your piece into a place it doesn't belong -- you have to consider all of the pieces around yours.

And whatever puzzle you're working on, you need some direction. To help you see what you can't see. To understand what you can't understand. To make it all fit together.

Prayer for 12/9: For the continued success of The Village Pig Project, which provides piglets, feed and veterinarian services to impoverished Cambodian families. "It's a piece of the puzzle," said Darren Pen, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge. "One thousand pieces come together into a big picture. It's little step by little step. When people are no longer hungry and have a little bit of money, they go to work and send their children to school. It's a major step out of poverty for these rural people."