Do you remember the song “Let There Be Peace on Earth”? In the summer of 1955, Jill Jackson Miller and her husband wrote that song and within weeks it touched lives. A music director for a national conference of Christian and Jewish teenagers brought the song to the inter faith and inter racial workshop. After singing the song once, the 180 teenagers quickly made it their theme song and wanted to share and live the message. They sang it in a circle and envisioned the world in the middle of the circle. That was just the start for this powerful song; for the next 10 years, the Miller’s spent 30 hours a week answering fan mail.

I love the line ‘and let it begin with me” for that is where everything starts – with you. How you ask? If you want peace in the world, be peaceful in your own Place in the world. Speak of love, gratitude, appreciation, forgiveness, abundance, and peace. Turn your attention to those who are making positive changes in the world. Speak of solutions. Laugh a lot. Give of yourself to others. And when you need a little reminder of peace, think of those 180 inter faith, inter racial teenagers who in 1955 joined together to sing about peace on earth.

Quotes of the week

“When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.” ~ Peace Pilgrim

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” ~ Jimi Hendrix

“Let us forgive each other – only then will we live in peace.” ~ Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.”

~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Soulful Links

Let There Be Peace on Earth ~ Vince Gill

Peace Train ~ Cat Stevens

Peace Train ~ Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)

Give Peace a Chance ~ John Lennon

Give Peace a Chance ~ Peace Choir

For the next week I invite you to be peaceful by choosing to

Start your day by saying let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

Be gentle with yourself and with others

Love yourself, love life, and love others

Speak about peace rather than war

Spend five minutes each day to sit with the thought of a peaceful world and sending out that intention

Mostly, I wish you a week filled of peaceful hearts. Choose to think of love, compassion, appreciation, forgiveness rather than fear. Choose to change conversations of war/terror/poor economy to a conversation of hope and allowing. Choose to be peaceful with yourself if you are going through a contrasting experience to what you want knowing this too is a learning experience to grow from. Choose to be at peace with yourself, with life, and with others.

Until next time, Peace Out!

 Did You Know…  

That there is a group of amazing world citizens called The Elders who are leading a global pathway of hope and  peace? The idea originated from Peter Gabriel and Richard Branson in the late 1990s and they took it to Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel in 2001. The Elders, Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel, Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Brundtland, Fernando Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, Muhammad Yunus, and Aung San Suu Kyi, are committed to supporting people who are making the world a better place.