Does world peace and global unity sound overly ambitious? Do you feel adequately positioned to solve the historic ills of mankind? To usher in an era of perfection and unity?
No pressure, of course.
Who are we fooling?
Bringing peace to the world sounds about as relevant and realistic as making the rain stop. Maybe we should just settle for a lack of conflict and lock ourselves in our rooms.
What can one person really do?
Although we may not be able to solve the world’s many problems, there is something powerful that we can do. We can develop a “shalom personality.”
What’s that, you ask?
A shalom personality is a rich, inner world of calm and tranquility, a beautiful place of shalom that we cultivate within ourselves. Time spent in the world of shalom gives a person access to a vast reserve of strength and confidence with which to tackle the tough world out there. A shalom personality can handle difficult people, weather uncomfortable situations, and work through intractable problems without wounding friends and neighbors in the process.
We don’t need to live in a perfect world to be at peace. We need to nurture our own sense of inner shalom, an attitude and practice that enables us to interact in a manner of shalom with everyone around us.
Your flight got cancelled after hours of delays? You’re not even going to complain.
Seated next to your Uncle Harold at a wedding, and he voted for you-know-who!? You don’t have to switch seats.
Your co-worker sings along to the radio? You don’t have to change cubicles.
These unpleasant moments and more can all be handled with a smile.
All we have to do is develop a shalom personality.
That’s not overwhelming or impossible. It’s powerful. And that’s where we’ll begin.
Try this today: Close your eyes for a few moments, calm your breathing, and think about how sweet life would be with a shalom personality.