“The harvest of justice is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.” James 3:18 When I read that my mind immediately jumped to cultivating. Being a farmer at heart, I imagined a tractor pulling a cultivator and preparing the ground for planting. It breaks up the hard clods and mixes up the soil. But cultivating also means to promote, encourage, improve or enrich. If I put those meanings together and try to see how that is true in my life, I know that to work for justice in the world, I must sometimes break up the hard clods of my own firmly held attitudes. Only then can justice be sown in peace. It doesn’t mean that I ignore the difficulties and in a “Pollyannaish” way embrace the idea of peace that means simply the absence of conflict. I want the real deal. I long for peace and justice in the world even if it means cultivating deeply the hardness of my heart.

grasses