Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
Matthew 5:9
On Sunday I shared a story of an intense encounter I had with a patient at the hospital while I was working as a chaplain. As soon as the patient was admitted into the hospital, he was cussing and threatening the hospital staff. Clearly, this patient was belligerent with some possible personality disorder. His nurse had asked me to visit the patient to try to calm him down and get some information from him. The patient was still audibly angry and yelling at anyone who came into his room. Nevertheless, I agreed to try to diffuse the situation. When I entered his room, he immediately began cussing at me, but I kept dialoguing with him in a calm manner. To my surprise, he opened up to me and started sharing some of his recent struggles. I was able to get the information the nurse needed to move forward with treating him. After expressing himself, he calmed down and became a bit more cooperative.
This taught me something very valuable about peacemaking; in order for peace to exist, people must occasionally enter into conflict in healthy ways. Peacemaking is very different from peacekeeping. Peacekeeping is akin to pacifism, which is conflict avoidant and ineffective. Peacemaking is resolving conflict in healthy ways through nonviolent active means. Be a peacemaker.
