Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me…

Do you remember this song?  I sang it quite a bit when I was a teenager; however I didn’t really think much about what it meant back then.  But as I think about the words today a light bulb goes on for me.

We seem to project into the world whatever is going on inside of us.  If we feel disorganized, the world is chaotic.  If we feel anxious, the world is a scary place.  How can we have peace on earth if we do not have our own personal peace of mind?

When I was in high school I attended a YMCA camp every summer called Camp Fox.  Those were formative years for me and my experiences at this camp made a deep impact on my life.  It’s been more than 30 years and I still remember the following campfire story.

It was about a father and his son. The father wanted to get some paperwork done before he took his son to the park. To keep his son occupied until he finished his work, he cut a picture of the world out of a magazine, and then tore it into twenty pieces.  He told his son when he had finished putting the puzzle together, they would go to the park.  He was quite surprised when his son returned after just a few minutes with the completed puzzle.

The father asked his son, “how were you able to finish the puzzle so quickly?”  His son answered  “There’s a picture of a man on the other side.  When I put the man together, the pieces of the world just fell into place.”

Michael Jackson echos the same sentiment in his song Man in the Mirror.

I’m Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I’m Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change

We may not be able to establish world peace before the New Year but if we look in the mirror and make a positive change in ourselves  perhaps we can come one step closer.

Let peace prevail in your hearts this Christmas.

Give the gift of your peaceful self to someone you love.