Peace I Leave With You

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27). As with all of the gifts that the Savior gives to us, His peace He leaves with us with the expectation that we will be good and faithful stewards of this peace, that we will not hoard it to ourselves or hide it under a bushel, but that we will share it out and multiply it. The peace that the world gives is more of an event than a process. Even if all parties involved do their best to adhere to the terms of a negotiated peace contact, that kind of peace is doomed to fail because peace cannot be contained in a piece of paper. The world is in a constant state of flux. People rise to and fall from power every day. Different surpluses and scarcities of resources crop up. Balances of power and leverage shift. The Savior's peace is dynamic. It requires the constant companionship and direction and guidance of the Holy Ghost in order to ensure that it remains relevant and applicable to an ever changing world. Peace is not a talent that we can bury in the dirt under a mountain of legalese and wash our hands of the matter and hope that no unforeseen chaos ever rears its ugly head. It is not enough for us to be peacekeepers. We have to be peacemakers. We have to multiply and replenish the peace that the Savior left us “till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (History of the Church, 4:540).

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I Will Make Weak Things Become Strong