Peace keeping

     It is what we all want. Peace, contentment, and happiness are sought after and fought for in every region of the world. Here, however is the dilemma; are we keeping the peace or making peace?
      By definition, peace keeping is easy, because it implies that there was peace to begin with. So, if we are talking what to do as conflict arises, we are by no means discussing peace keeping. You now have a choice. Do you test the authenticity of the relationship, or do you sweep your concerns under the rug to be tripped over at a later time. What many will do is give in to the demand or desires of the other to avoid conflict. The result of this is bitterness and anger. It breaks down trust, it removes the ability to truly love and respect another person. Love, as we see in 1 Corinthians 13, rejoices in the truth. Because we are called to a brother love (John 13:34), we can no longer in good conscious step away from conflict. We must make peace.
     Think about brotherly love. Picture if you will 5 year old Matthew and 7 year old Todd. Matthew says to his friend that Todd has stinky feet. Does Todd have stinky feet? Probably, he is after all a 7 year old boy. This however makes Todd angry. What does he do? Does he ignore that anger and pretend he was never offended? Most likely not. Like any good brother, he would show how much he loves Matthew by pushing him down and yelling at him about how mad he is. He will express his desire for him to "take it back" or "say your sorry"  Matthew on the other hand will probably just apologize, right? Wrong! Oh, you only had sisters? Listen carefully then, because I believe as we have come a long way in the women's movement, along the way we forgot what men are. God did not want for us to have sisterly love, He wanted brotherly love.
     Girls tend to be "peace keepers".  They avoid conflict because it is the ladylike thing to do. They become bitter and angry and mistrusting of everyone. They keep the hurt inside to chew on for days, weeks or years.  Boys duke it out. They do not mince words and there is rarely any confusion about how two boys feel. They say everything that needs to be said without regard to the other's feelings or pain. When they are done, they are done. Often walking away as friends. Brother's would never turn their backs on each other, they will protect each other to the death. They have brotherly love.
     Peacekeeping is a fallacy. If it is happening, no one is talking about it, and there is really no reason to. If it is being talked about the peace is likely already been broken. Peace only returns when conflict has been resolved. I am by no means recommending the "duke it out" approach, but if you choose to have the discussion in an attempt to resolve the conflict, you might have to "duke it out" verbally. You might say something that hurts someone else, you might have to listen to something that is painful to hear. If someone has offended you, go to them. Do everything you can to be at peace with those around you, really at peace. Resolve the conflict so that "by this, everyone will know" you are disciples of Christ.
Matthew 5:9  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.