Friday, November 28, 2014

Dear God,

She stood trying to get hand soap out of a container.  I knew this was my opportunity.  I pointed to one I had used.  "Doesn't the word "Salaam" mean peace?"  I asked her.  She smiled at me and that began a conversation.  Before I left she put her hands together as if in prayer and bowed toward me.  I was grateful we had reached out to one another, she a Muslim and me a Christian.

All week long I had sung Let There Be Peace especially after attending the memorial service of a man murdered by terrorists.  I really wanted to create peace so I made a commitment to myself to extend a hand to Muslims that appeared before me at the grocery store, retail stores, and parking lots.  I did not expect to meet one in the public restroom; however, that is where I discovered her. 

I realized the only way for peace to be possible is if each person takes a step of peace toward another.  As the song goes, "Let peace begin me.

Thank you
for the
Muslim woman
you brought
to me,
O Lord.
Thank you
for a willingness
to do
our part
toward peace.
Thank you
for being
a peacemaker.

Love always, Andrea