I remember hearing Matthew 5:9 KJV; ”Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” It anchored my soul made, me reflect on my path, and helped me contemplate God’s purpose for my life. I spent so much time asking myself “What does it mean to be a peacemaker?” Is it activism, advocacy, being a volunteer, or charity? More importantly as a young person, what is my introduction to adulthood going to look like; how can I take this entire college curriculum outside of the classroom and put it to practical use? What does it mean to take on the responsibility of being a steward to God’s creation? These are a lot of questions to have for yourself at 22, especially when you are trying to figure out a career and your future. I do not know the correct answer, but I knew that the way I began to figure out these questions begun with Amate House. It is all in the name “to love” bringing love to action through faith.
I could have taken this journey on my own; but I needed to embark on this long road ahead with other people. I needed to have mutual trust, love and support with my contemporaries. That is where intentional community comes in, this is what made Amate so special; young adults, all at a similar stage in their life and all decided to take this adventure with me. They decide to come in with love and open hearts, willing to accept and help each other grow while we all do the work of peacemakers as stewards of the Earth. We have blessed each other in ways we could have never imagine, became a family, proud supporters, and overall a community. Someone (in community) since said, that the most powerful thing is to say The Lord’s Prayer, while holding hands, symbolizing solidarity with that community. They were so right. All the questions I pondered in the beginning were all difficult to answer, but the answer became clearer every day that we were together, because we are able to learn from one another and immerse everyday as better people.
To me, being a peacemaker means that you have committed yourself to being the change you want to see in the world. It means that you are walking your path with faith, action, and love. It means that you are joining a long line of individuals and groups who “fight the good fight”; but when you come in with your own comrades, that fight becomes so much easier. We constantly remind each other that we came to be together. We may not have known each other two months ago, but now we choose to live intentionally. That choice has already given us so much freedom; now the only challenge is to keep remembering the love that brought us all together in the first place. Not when everything is going good, but when it is difficult to express frustration, or when someone has not done the dishes.
By taking the time to build a strong foundation, we will all be able to understand the greater plan that God has for all of us. People say that it is going to be on our generation to make the world a better and fairer place for all the future generation that will come. Alone the pressure of this task is frightening, but with this experience moving forward, I am no longer afraid of what is means to be an advocate or an activist. Instead, I welcome the challenge because I have taken the time to know God, myself, and my peers on a deeper level. That is the power of being a steward for the creation of God, and a peacemaker, peacebuilder, and a peacekeeper. Always keeping in mind that “God is better than the best thing that the world has to offer”, and it is through him that I have come to this place.
We may not know where this road is taking us, but we have each other and that makes riding out any storm possible.