Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.” For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good. Psalm 122:6-9

During our Thanksgiving dinner, my sister mentioned her latest campaign.  Over the years, her neighborhood has been a little rough.  Plus, she lives in a more remote area so daily contact with neighbors does not happen.  However, she started waving to everyone she saw whether walking or driving.  Soon others began to wave back and now things seem a little bit better.

Our nation is in bad shape with all the violent acts and shootings occurring weekly.  We need some help.  Waving at each other will not prevent shootings, but it can be a start.  The psalmist calls the people to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  We can take this further, pray for the peace of YOUR Jerusalem, your city, your homestead, and pray for the peace of Washington, DC, the governmental center of our nation.

If we begin to pray for our neighbors, show kindness to our neighbors and learn to live with our differences, we might just see some of that peace.  We then take the next steps, finding ways to create peaceful areas, finding ways to help those in need, finding ways to promote peace instead of violence.  Couple this with praying for our leadership, perhaps we might just find some solutions to the ongoing issues in our nation.

We can always try,

Pastor Bill