The Heart Speaks Peace

Not very long ago my heart started speaking.  It wasn’t like the announcements in elementary school that crackled into my classroom, muffled and ignored.  My heart speaks like the opening scene in “Star Wars.”  The movie title and storyline crawls up the screen to blaring trumpets and swelling drums promising the opening of a new world with never imagined possibilities.  I am on the edge of my seat listening, listening to this moving magical cadence compelling me to keep turning the page—to stand up—to this soaring adventure called life.  My heart speaks bigger than any movie and better than any book.

 

My heart is a microphone.

My blood carries the message

to bones, muscles, organs

reaching every capillary.

My body is a PA system.

 

Your heart is a microphone.

Your body is a PA System.

Do you hear the trumpets and drums?

This is your story, your adventure,

you can’t miss this one.

 

The Eternal echoes in your heart.

 

Tears and scars and anxious hearts.

Hunger and pain and dying dreams.

Peace is far away it seems.

 

The world’s heart

Booming like a distant drum

Does not keep silent.

“Peace. Peace.  Peace.”

 

Peace?

Peace can be as clear and simple as a mason jar.

A mason jar packed with

Pinecones

Seashells

Wildflower seeds

Words from Martin Luther King’s Dream

Rubber bouncy balls

And Everlasting Gobstoppers

 

I packed these mason jars.

I pulled them in my red radio flyer wagon.

I passed them door-to-door.

I rang your doorbell and handed you a jar.

 

No more tears and scars and anxious hearts.

No more hunger and pain and dying dreams.

 

Will you take this jar?

 

Will you pick up this pinecone and hold it to your nose?  Let the earthy aroma remind you that it once was connected to a branch and that branch was connected to a great tree and that tree’s roots dug deep into the mountains where it was nourished.  With every breath let this pinecone remind you that you are connected beyond the surface of things that deep waters sustain you.

 

Will you rub your fingers over this seashell and remember the ocean breeze, the rhythm of waves, the creatures living in the sea, the sand between your toes?  All things come and go.

Change is possible you know.

 

Will you open this small packet of wildflower seeds and spread them everywhere?  Transform the landscape of your life.  As you sow these seeds let go of everyone and everything that has ever hurt you and watch your life began to bloom.

 

Will you unroll this scroll and place this speech on a mirror?  Let its words remind you that peace must move beyond good intentions and be written into the structures of society.  Let its words remind you of how far we’ve come but how far we have yet to go.  Let its words remind you of the power of human hearts humming as one.

 

Will you grab this rubber bouncy ball and share it with someone whose smile has been stepped on?  Spend time throwing that ball back and forth.  Let that ball bounce wherever it wants.  These are the ones we need to hear the most.

 

Will you share this Everlasting Gobstopper?  Will you open up and give your life away?  Your words and actions ringing loud and clear, “I love you.” “I believe in you.”  “You going to make it through.”

 

Hear the music soar. Listen!  Listen closely.  Your heart is a microphone.

 

“A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away.  Peace.”

 

Peace can come every day.

Peace is closer than it seems.

Peace in every step.

Peace in every breath.

Peace stronger than war.

 

Eternal sound waves surging through you

Will you pass this peace from door to door?